Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Salvage

Saturday, January 4, 2009
5:13 PM

It all started with a flash. The five kids could barely remember what happened after Franz Hopper sacrificed himself. The foreboding blue light was the only thing that lingered in the memories of his allies.

Especially his daughter.

Aelita Stones could not comprehend the aftermath of such a recent event. She collapsed in the middle of the steel floor, and started crying without any hesitation. Her friends, who were still in shock from the final battle, forced themselves to reply.

Yumi was first. “Aelita!” She sat next to the distressed angel, trying not to look directly into her eyes. “It's okay, X.A.N.A is gone now. We'll never have fight again!”

“My father...he's gone too! I didn't even get to say goodbye!”
She wailed without a second thought. The pink-haired girl never got the time to process the damage their worst enemy has done to her.

The same was true for everybody else.

In spite of that, the rest of the group knew she held the most pain right now. Odd and Ulrich tried consoling the guardian together, but they only repeated the same talking points as Yumi. After a period of silence, Jeremie awkwardly asked Aelita what he could do to help her.

To his surprise, this lead to both of them hugging each other.
While the walls and floors of the abandoned factory were cold and unyielding, it's inhabitants proved to be the opposite.

The warmth was enough to ground the virtual angel, even her programming partner looked more at peace during the exchange. The other three could only look at each other without finding anything to say. Everyone knew what had to be done.

Tomorrow, the group would finally shut down the supercomputer. Then they can finally be more than just 'the Lyoko Warriors'. What the five kids didn't know, was how powerful the consequences of their actions were going to be.

Saturday, January 4, 2009
7:02 PM

Odd knew they only had thirty minutes left until dinner was no longer served at Kadic. Thankfully, they all made it just in time. Rosa did remind them not to be late next time, but the portions were enough to last until morning.

Normally the animal lover would have been up to their usual tricks, like making fun of Sissi or bringing up the Kadic Harold. Unfortunately, the familiar chatter from the other kids wasn't there anymore. It quickly dawned on the Lyoko Warriors they were the only students left inside the cafeteria.

It was because of that ambiance, did their suppressed memories begin to return. Various pictures flashed though each of their minds, reminding the kids of their final confrontation with the virus.

Yumi took out a few hornets with her fans before restraining a Megatank with her telekinesis. Ulrich sliced though an army of Kankrelats, while Odd fired a barrage of arrows into the Megatank's weak spot. Aelita was at one of Lyoko's terminals, helping Jeremie deploy the multi-agent program while the other three took out the monsters. The first part of the plan went surprising well, until the program was almost complete.

That was when Franz Hopper died.
It all because of X.A.N.A's desire to get even with his creator. First, his vessel went missing, his Megatank fell, and the antidote was going to cause the virus an untold amount of pain.

The only monster left was the Scyphzoa. If he possessed Hopper's daughter, his enemies would stop at nothing to make sure she didn't throw herself into the Digital Sea. What he didn't expect was her father's sacrifice, and Aelita shielding herself against the monster that used to scare her the most.

The most ridiculous part was that his vessel was still no were to be found, so the A.I blamed his creator again. Before X.A.N.A could think of another plan, an ocean of radio static began to tear though his code. Unable to even think, he could only watch while a blue light enveloped the entirety of Lyoko. After that, nothing was left but the five who started it all.

Except for one.

Saturday, January 4, 2009
8:38 PM

William Dunbar remembered absolutely nothing. Unlike his former friends, it wasn't limited to the final battle. No, everything about the virtual world was suppressed from his memory. The boy just didn't realize it was a defense mechanism yet, since he could barely process what he's done.

Just like the others.

'It doesn't matter,' William thought to himself. 'Everyone will think I'm crazy anyway. Some things never change.'

He almost laughed.
After a few hours of trying to distract himself, X.A.N.A's former vessel gave up trying to go to sleep. It was too late to play his guitar, so the student tried drawing whatever was on his mind.

The result was a pile of nonsense.

On his cheap sketch-paper were various blue scribbles filling the entire page. Nothing else was there besides random lines and shapes of various lengths and sizes. All in shades of navy, cyan, and indigo. William wasn't the best artist, but he still knew how to draw a basic composition. This was clearly the result of someone who was anxious and half-asleep.

After staring at the page for a few minutes, the boy decided the best outcome was to just throw it away.

'What a waste of time.' William thought, only feeling slightly better after sneaking out of that strange house in the woods.

Wait, what did he do again?

Once again, nothing returned. Not even a fragment.

It was in this dazzled state the Lyoko Warrior won the hardest battle of them all. Remembering to take his anxiety medication. Even though the bottle was right next to the bed he was lounging on for hours. As a result, William reached out to the nightstand and grabbed the container. Maybe next time he won't forget.

The brain fog faded after thirty minutes. Or maybe it was an hour, the student forgot what time it was anyway. Either way, he was finally able to close his eyes.

For now.

Sunday, January 5, 2009
1:11 AM

Blue light. Night sky. An electric pulse is flowing with the wind.
Somebody is watching. Is it him?

The shield will save them. This light was always mine. The wind is strong, the sky will not be his!

It's pulse is getting stronger. Good, I hope they don't suffer because of me. Yumi, I'm sorry. I wish I could do more.

Only France is protected. The world...still needs all of you. My shield will never fall.

I won't bow to him again.

Sunday, January 5, 2009
5:47 AM

X.A.N.A's former vessel wakes up from a nightmare, unaware of his latest creation. His inner strength will remain hidden, until the boy finds the truth.

For now, William only believes the nightmare was caused by past trauma. The other Lyoko Warriors gave him enough information to reach that conclusion. Before the final confrontation, of course. Now he can't even look at them in the eye.

In spite of this, the latent defender still wanted them to be safe. It was the least he could do after causing so much pain against his will. That desire wasn't just limited to them, though. Deep down, William knew that nobody deserved to be possessed by a sentient computer virus.

That was why he created a barrier in the sky that would protect everyone he cared about. Unfortunately, it could only defend one part of the world. The rest would have to live in constant danger. Only in his dreams, could the Lyoko Warrior acknowledge what he's done.
In spite of that, William could only wash his eyes out before returning to sleep. This time, he could only feel an electric pulse.

Like nothing ever happened.

Chapter Text

Sunday, January 5, 2009
10:56 AM

Jeremie Belpois pulled the switch. A short droning sound occurred as the various mechanisms shut down the quantum battery inside of the supercomputer. The rest of his friends stared in silence. Before Aelita's grief, all of them imagined the ceremony to be a graduation instead of a funeral. Everything was supposed to get better after the virus was wiped from the hardware, but the heaviness still remained.

It was Odd who broke the silence.

“I know a lot happened yesterday, but we have to keep going. We're still Lyoko Warriors, with or without X.A.N.A! Do you really want that ugly smoke cloud to scare us for rest of our lives? I sure don't! Let's make a new promise; to live our lives and follow our dreams again!”

The impulsive archer held our their hand in the middle of the powered down factory. The rest of their friends could only see cracks of sunlight leaking though the dilapidated building. In spite of that, their comrades knew what Della Robbia was offering.

A second chance.

Ulrich was the first to accept the offer.

He smirked. “Nothing can hold us back,”

Yumi was the second.

“My family deserves better,” she said with authority.

Jeremie gave a quick glance at Aelita before joining.

“I can't keep doing this forever,” he agreed with the dark-haired girl.

It was the guardian's turn now.

The last few days felt like a blur. Everything was changing too fast, she couldn't do this alone.

“Will we all grow apart? Lyoko brought us all together, and I'm sorry-but I can't move on yet! I still get these awful flashes, of what X.A.N.A did to me-and...”

Aelita cleared her throat and dried her eyes. “I want more,” she choked out bitterly.

On that day, the five Lyoko Warriors vowed to keep moving forward. Even if they weren't ready to move on completely, it was a step in the right direction. Their worst enemy did not have the right to control them after it's demise. The group even decided to hold a small celebration after leaving the supercomputer behind.

Aelita gave a small smile as she walked away from her past life. Her future felt a little brighter.

Sunday, January 5, 2009
12:13 PM

William looked at the sky, in shock over what he's seen. The familiar blue was covered in some kind of translucent filter. It looked more like a digital ocean than a part of nature. It took all of his self control not to have a breakdown on the steps in front of the school's building. He already felt like the other students were staring at him for their sick amusement.

Instead, the sixth Lyoko Warrior ran back to his dorm. A certain gym teacher would scold him for staying inside all day, but the boy needed to at least process the strange event. It was better than telling Yumi's friends about it, due to their sullied relationship.

If only they knew.

Sunday, January 5, 2009
1:27 PM

“That'd be five tickets to Scaredy Cat and The Traveling Circus,”
A tired cashier said in a monotone voice. After handing them to the small group of students, the overworked college girl went back to reading her history textbook.

“Didn't know you were into stuff like this, Odd,” Ulrich teased his roommate.

“Hey, animation is a valid form of storytelling!” Della Robbia teased him back.

Jeremy and Yumi rolled their eyes while Aelita gave a small laugh. After their ordeal from earlier, it was nice to have an excuse to forget about all of their problems.

“Hey, she forgot to tell us which room to go to,” Yumi tried to alert the two lovebirds in denial.

Mr. and Mrs. Einstein looked at the number on their tickets.

“Its room ten!” Both nerds said at once.

The kids all ran past all the other showings, now aware it was near the end of theater's left corridor. They almost noticed a few advertisements for a new zombie movie, along with a sci-fi blockbuster.

Nobody stopped to look at them.

Sunday, January 5, 2009
2:00 PM

The closet was small, but it had enough space to fit one person. It mostly contained clothing and various forgotten items, but now it held an anxious teenager.

'Where did the shield come from?! Why am I the only one who can see it?!' William started panicking, now he was more tempted to tell his former friends.

'They need to know, they need to know...'
The boy's thoughts started racing like the strongest wind. William knew they wouldn't believe him, because he noticed other people going outside before him. Sissi was complaining loudly at breakfast about going to the library for tutoring. He saw a group of students playing football that included Herb and Nicholas. This was all before the Lyoko Warrior noticed the shield protecting the sky.

'Jim even went on his morning hike, of course the rest of them didn't see it!' The barrier's creator reached his conclusion.

The only option he had left was to ignore it. A small part of the boy hoped it was just a side effect from X.A.N.A's influence that could fade at any moment.

Only the defender inside him knew the truth.

Sunday, January 5, 2009
3:16 PM

“That movie was pretty dumb,” Odd complained after the group walked back into the lobby. At least they knew why the cartoon was shoved to the back of the theater.

“I know, it would have been funnier if the characters just punched each other in the face,” Ulrich agreed with them.

“Yeah, more effort should have been focused on the story instead of just making it look pretty,”

“Always the artist,”

At this point the critics unintentionally wondered off away from the rest of their friends.

“Wait for us!” Yumi tried to get their attention.

This startled Odd and Ulrich, as the other three made their way towards them. Aelita yawned before remembering that none of them got lunch before leaving. Jeremy felt sluggish as well. Before Odd could make a suggestion, the dark-haired girl spoke up again.

“We should probably eat somewhere before heading back,”
she said while rubbing her tired eyes.

Ulrich nodded in response.

“I just remembered there's a pizza place near us,”

Aelita smiled, while Jeremy was blushing.

“Lead the way!”

Maybe one day the team's strategists will confess to each other. After all, it was no were near as toxic as the 'love square' the teens had to put up with. Ulrich did like Yumi back then, but she didn't feel anything romantic towards him. The same was true when it came to her and William. As a result, Ulrich decided to only stay friends with her while repressing his feelings for his roommate.

Sissi still had a crush on him, but she started bothering them less after questioning parts of herself. William on the other hand, also liked Yumi as a friend. But he didn't realize that before the ordeal, so his attempts at 'courting' came off as weak. Unfortunately, that didn't stop a certain samurai from being jealous. That only made the fake rebel double down on his 'romantic love', even though nothing changed.

What made the aftermath his possession worse, was that the Lyoko Warriors came to genuinely came to like their newest member. Even Ulrich learned to get over his jealously, and realized how awkward and insecure William truly was. That didn't mean there wasn't any conflict, but the idea of having more support gave the other members relief. Only for their worst enemy to slowly replace that with trauma. Even looking at the boy's haunted face gave the group flashbacks of their time on Lyoko.

Which is why nobody wanted to bring it up in the first place. The five students continued this pattern of denial by going to the restaurant that Ulrich noticed earlier. The building looked bright and chipper enough to make that task easier.

“This pizza is great!” Odd later confirmed.

Nobody questioned them.

Sunday, January 5, 2009
5:46 PM

Sissi Delmas sat on the steps leading to the academy's dorms. She sighed bitterly, wondering why nothing was going her way. The tutoring lession was worse than she expected. Her father didn't even send someone to help her out at the library. Not only did she have do the algebra problems straight from the textbook, the principal's daughter was constantly reminded of how alone she was. Sissi did try to talk to Ulrich's friends during breakfast, but stopped herself at the last minute after seeing the look on his face.

Pure disgust.

Or that's what the former love-struck teen believed in. The truth was that he was mostly annoyed, especially when Odd decided to bring up the Kadic Harold again. Unfortunately, Elizabeth didn't know that, so she automatically assumed the worst. Sulking on the steps wasn't going to solve her problems, though.

She did saw something in the distance, but when the figure got closer, Sissi realized it was a person instead. At this point, the sun was setting and the sky was getting darker. This made it slightly harder to pinpoint her surroundings, but she did notice a familiar hairstyle and clothing. The other student was looking at the sky himself. The barrier was still there, but it was more transparent than before. That made it easier to pretend it was not there.

William looked at Sissi. He was tempted to just go back inside, but the solitude was taking a toll on him, too.

“What are you doing?” she tried being more polite.

The Lyoko Warrior paused, carefully selecting his words.

“Just trying to relax. It's nice outside.”

“Yeah, it is. I wish classes didn't start tomorrow.” Elizabeth continued. “It's been crazy lately. Like every day is faster than before. I can't describe it.”

William sighed.

“No, that's pretty accurate. I wish everything didn't change so much, either.”

“Like how?”

“It's not just Yumi, it's all of them. One minute I was close, now they want nothing to do with me.”

Elizabeth Delmas agreed, that particular group wanted nothing to do with her either. Although it was mostly her fault for forcing her way into their business. She was too curious for her own good.

“Same here, even though I was asking for it.”

“Don't beat yourself up.”

“No,” the remorseful girl disagreed. “I was always convinced they were up to something. Just running off and having fun in their own little world. When they started talking to you, that made me think I could actually join them. That's when I got all nosy and started asking a thousand annoying questions. Now I just want them to like me, if that's even possible.”

“I can't blame you, it does feel pretty two-faced. While I can't tell you all about their personal problems, it's still hard seeing them only talking to each other. It does feel like Yumi and her friends are shutting everybody out, even when they claim to care.”

Sissi looked at William with concern. He looked more haunted than she ever saw him before. She remembered her peer being happier and much less aware of his surroundings about a week ago. It felt almost felt like somebody replaced him.

“Are you okay? Be honest with me, since both of us are sick of lies,”
William stared at the ground, questioning if he should reveal the group's secret. A part of the boy believed he had nothing to lose, but the latent defender understood the consequences. After all, the shield was still there, even if it was slightly less visible than before. Like it or not, Yumi's friends knew more about X.A.N.A and Lyoko compared to him.

“I'm not. But I can't just spill all their secrets. All you need to know is that I made a huge mistake that hurt everyone, including myself. It had nothing to do with dating or anything you would consider normal. I deserve what happened to me, though. Be careful Sissi, you don't deserve to make the same mistake I did.”

The Lyoko Warrior stood up and looked deep into Elizabeth's eyes while giving her this cryptic warning. It felt like he reading a prophecy that she could never fully understand. While this gave her an anxiety spike, the future investigator decided to use his knowledge as an opportunity.

“What kind of mistake? I'm sorry William, but it sounds like somebody hurt you. One minute you told me not to beat myself up over my mistakes, and now you're just shoving all the blame onto yourself! Well, I have a warning too. Whatever happens, you better stop thinking that you deserve to be pain like this. It's just isn't right!”

The boy forced himself to respond.

“I was captured by their worst enemy. I can't tell you anything else, just don't get involved.”

Sissi froze. The memories that were sealed by the constant returns to the past were beginning to resurface. Not all of them came back to her, but she felt a familiar threat response to an invisible enemy. This instinct grounded her to some parts of the truth.

“Fine. I don't want to think about it anyway,” The latent warrior refused to dwell on unconformable details.

William's focus began to return. He didn't know why his mind felt hazy after giving her that warning, or how any of these strange events occurred. What was even weirder is the longer the boy looked at the barrier, the more familiar it felt to him.

Like it was an extension of himself.

The anxious student pushed that possibility away. It was better to not accept the truth, at least for now.

'No, it has to be a side effect from X.A.N.A. Nothing else happened to me, so it's gonna fade after a couple of days.'

“Hey Will,” The principal's daughter tried to get his attention. “You're spacing out again.”

The boy grounded himself.

“Um, no. I was just thinking about some things.”

Sissi rolled her eyes.

“And I'm Queen Elizabeth,” she retorted, wanting to add some levaity to the situation.

He gave a small grin. “Most brits would never believe that,”

“Try me, I just need a fancy crown and a dress.”

William started to snicker. Even if Sissi's memories were coming back, it felt good to know that she would never change.

Wait, how did he know that?

“So, you're from Britain?” the curious girl asked.

“Kind of. I was born in Scotland, but my parents moved me to London when I was a baby. I do go back to see my grandparents sometimes.”

“That's nice, I bet the mountains are pretty,”

The latent defender let his guard drop. It was nice to experience a little peace for a change.

“They are. Especially in the spring, when the temperature's just right to go running around.”

“You sound just like Jim,”

The two spent a few more minutes talking about normal things that kids their age were supposed to talk about. Both of them couldn't recall the past for different reasons, but found they had a lot in common. When the sky went completely dark, the tired students returned to their dorms.

Sunday, January 5, 2009
8:13 PM

“Well, I'm beat,” said Odd, as they spread out lazily on their unmade bed. “But I'm looking forward to this new life,”

“Same here, it's great not worrying about crazy things anymore,” Ulrich agreed with them, while carefully not bringing Lyoko.

“Too bad classes start tomorrow. I gotta deal with a makeup test with Ms.Hertz,”

“I'm surprised she gave you a chance,”

The eccentric artist rolled their eyes.
“Said something about my wasted potential or whatever,”

His roommate sighed, knees deep in the soft blanket. It felt great only having to worry about normal problems, for once. Like school and family-

No.

When was his father showing up again? It had to be during finals-why does he never-

“Ulrich, did you hear me? I said the Subdigitals were playing again in February. Aelita could use a prep squad,”

“Um,yeah. I heard some people talking about that at the pizza place,”

Della Robbia gathered their concentration, a part of them knew there were going to be problems after X.A.N.A. All of them did to some extent.

“Is there something you need to talk about? Just to get off your chest?”

“No-”

“Ulrich,”

“Alright,” the stubborn boy caved in. “It's my father, I really need to bring my grades up so he'll stop bothering me,”

Odd frowned. They all knew how ruthless Josef Stern could be. Not only did he threaten to kick his son out of Kadic, the cold businessman also had very high expectations for their best friend.

There's no way he would allow the two to be in a relationship, especially when they were not-

“Hey, now you're spacing out,”

“Yeah, just thinking. Maybe Einstein can tutor you sometime,”

The samurai sharpened his resolve.

“Good idea. But now it's your turn to spill,”

The archer tried to hide their emotions.

“Alright, it's just that I know you're father doesn't really approve of me. Because of how I look, act, and stuff like that,”

“You mean the gender stuff,”

Odd clenched the blanket tightly.

“Yeah..I'm not gonna lie, Ulrich. He scares the crap out of me. Like if wear that new pink hoodie we found at the mall, he's gonna throw a huge fit,”

The boy next to them nodded.

“You're right. I used to think he was just strict, but now I know it's much worse. That's why I'm going to apply for a football scholarship at some point,”

The non-binary student smiled gently.

“Kick his ass,”

“Oh, I will,”

Ulrich returned the favor.

After their conversation, the two Lyoko Warriors spent the rest of the evening gossiping about random events at the school, and watching Jim's old disco videos. The kids wanted to keep celebrating their new lives, but classes would start tomorrow.

Their old enemy wasn't dead, either.

Monday, January 6, 2009
12:07 AM

Can anybody hear me?

I know Sissi did. Somewhat.

Who else? Jeremie. Jeremie. Jeremie.

Does he know? Do they know?!

Hear me! Look at the sky, it's the digital sea now!

Something terrible will happen...

I don't want it to turn red.

I don't anyone to turn red.

Go back to Lyoko.

Find the truth.

I don't want to hurt myself again.

Protect me, like you did for Aelita.

Monday, January 6, 2009
4:37 AM

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Jeremie Belpois jumped out of bed from fear.

The programmer fumbled around for his glasses before running towards the laptop in his backpack. He was going to finish coding new functions for the next robotics competition, but the group's strategist didn't know they would stay out so late. As a result, his laptop was in sleep mode.

Until now.

Unfortunately, this warning couldn't wait until tomorrow. Due to Jeremie's tinkering, the personal computer had a ridiculously long battery life to power up the super-scan.

Which he was finally able to silence.

'What was that for?!' The angry student thought. 'There isn't even an activated tower! What kind of sick joke is this?!'

He deactivated the program and powered down his laptop. Jeremie yawned, desperately wanting to go back to sleep. He didn't care if there was a programming error after X.A.N.A was defeated, the tired student already made a promise.

Not just for himself, but for his friends and Aelita.
Nothing was going to get in the way of that.

'Take that X.A.N.A! Odd was right, we deserved to celebrate.'

That was the last thought the boy had before returning to bed.

Monday, January 6, 2009
4:45 AM

William Dunbar was still asleep, but in the back of his mind, he realized that his call for help was never answered. Only in the waking world will it ever be acknowledged. However, the boy needed to remember what he sacrificed in the first place.
Thankfully, he wasn't alone.

Chapter Text

Monday, January 6, 2009
7:21 AM

“Don't forget, you're babysitting Hiroki tonight!”

Yumi Ishiyama fought the urge to roll her eyes, this was the third time her parents wanted their oldest daughter to watch over her younger brother. For some reason, it was their idea of 'taking on more responsibility.'

It wasn't because she was failing her classes either, Yumi clearly remembered only having average grades due to most of the Lyoko Warrior's time being taken up by fighting X.A.N.A. While she did try to study in her free time, Takeo and Akiko only noticed her performance slipping.

“Fine is not enough for university. It might be for community college, but in order to get a good job, you must get into a university first.
We love you, but we know you're capable of getting a scholarship if you put your mind to it.”

After opening the door, that memory kept replaying in the back of her mind. Yumi wished her stern father didn't always assume that most of her problems came from hanging out with boys. Unfortunately, it was a reasonable conclusion for him to make. After all, there were times where his daughter had to sneak out of the house to fight on Lyoko. It didn't help that three-no two members were boys.

The Japanese princess pushed that thought out of her head. No, now's not the time to think about him. Not yet.

Instead, she decided to slowly take in her peaceful surroundings. The sky was clear aside from the sunlight, and the streets of Paris were mostly empty. People normally didn't walk this early, but Yumi always used this time as an excuse to clear her mind after a recent X.A.N.A attack. It was easy to get lost from looking at the cozy small businesses intertwining with the tall pines trees and multicolored wild flowers.

It was nothing like Lyoko.
The virtual world was too artificial, too hollow, to be anything like her home. Yumi only see and hear her surroundings after getting virtualized, but on earth, everything feel more alive. Not only could the older sister feel the sunlight on her skin, she could even smell the pollen from the wildflowers, and taste the cold air while taking a short breath. There were no other people besides her friends, and whatever monsters got in their way. It was a relief seeing some of the adults enter some of the businesses they worked at, for it was easy to forget there was a world outside of the one she knew.

Yumi sighed, acknowledging that she couldn't enjoy this peace forever. Even if X.A.N.A was defeated, she still had responsibilities and expectations to put up with. A part of her wished that Aelita and the others would realize how much trust she lost with her parents. It was hard not to feel fragments of jealously from time to time, especially with how carefree some of the other students were allowed to be.

Including Odd and Aelita.

However, Yumi was aware of the eccentric artist's persona, and how they used it to boost the group's morale. Her pink counterpart on the other hand, always had trouble growing up. First she was stuck on Lyoko, then X.A.N.A kidnapped her a decent amount of times, and now she has to deal with the loss of a loved one. None of these events were Aelita's fault, but the virtual angel now has nothing holding her back.

Or that's what Yumi believes.

It was hard to keep being the group's reliable older sister when she often had to deal with family trouble on top of her friend's conflicts. She wouldn't trade being a Lyoko Warrior for the world, but the Japanese princess wished she didn't have to be strong all the time. After all, even royalty had advisers they could count on. But it often felt like the only princess being listened to had a pair of pink wings. Yumi pushed these thoughts away, she couldn't afford to be too selfish just because the final battle was over.

At this point, it was only a few minutes before she opened the academy's doors again.

'Come on, Yumi. It's just another day at school, you already know what's going to happen.'

She would be right, if it wasn't for Sissi Delmas.

Monday, January 6, 2009
10:01 AM

Just keep smiling.

Aelita Schaeffer knew it would take more than one day of carefree activities to move on from Lyoko. She still had trouble sleeping, due to nightmares of her various encounters with X.A.N.A. Her friends understood, they too had the same personal brand of insomnia. The group's eye bags were proof of that, until Odd found a particular brand of concealer to cover them up. Only them and Aelita used it, though. The others weren't used to wearing makeup.

Just keep smiling.

At least Algebra was over, and she could talk to all of her friends before French began. She noticed Jeremy talking to Yumi about something in the back of the classroom, shortly after the students left the room. Aelita noticed Ms.Meyers wasn't there either, since she ran off to refill her coffee in the teacher's lounge.

He waved to her awkwardly, with a forced grin. The virtual angel shuddered, feeling a different atmosphere in the air. After all, there was no reason for them to run off from the rest of the class unless it was important.

“Where's Odd and Ulrich?” she asked, swallowing her anxiety.

“I don't know where they are, but we can tell them later. I do need to ask you something, though. Can you still feel pulsations?” The strategist worded his question carefully.

Just keep smiling.

“After it was shut down?” Aelita looked behind her, making sure there weren't any spies roaming around. “I never tried detecting them without the supercomputer on, so I don't think I'll feel anything,”

“Good, I just needed to confirm something,” Jeremy tried to end the conversation, not wanting to push the guardian's anxiety any further.

“Confirm what?”

Yumi wished Jeremie would get to the point already, his partner couldn't be sheltered forever. She tried to concentrate on the front door, making sure the teacher didn't return at the wrong time. Or that a certain principal's daughter didn't try to snoop. The girl repeated the scripted excuse in her head, that Aelita needed help with 'boy troubles' of all things. Thankfully, nobody tried to open it.

It didn't stop that sinking feeling from rising in the back of her mind.

“I got an alert from the super-scan last night, at four in the morning. The strangest part was, there was an alert, but no activated tower!” Hopper's apprentice tried to keep his voice down, but there was still urgency in his voice.

Aelita held back her urge to scream into the digital void.
She was never going back to Lyoko.

Never again.
All she had to do was keep on smiling.

“Maybe it was a false positive. Since I can't get any pulsations from Lyoko, there's no way the super-scan can get them too,”

Yumi raised an eyebrow. She recalled the emergency text message that Jeremy sent last night. At first, he thought it was just a bug in the program, only to stay up all night in a constant state of paranoia. The part that stuck out to her was his fear over how far X.A.N.A has evolved. How the signal might have came from the Network instead.
That was when the dark-haired girl had to put her foot down.

Their worst enemy is dead.
That's what she wanted to believe.

“Can I see your laptop later?” Aelita asked him. “There must be a way to fix it,”

Jeremie could feel the sweat forming on his face, at this point he had two options. Accept her solution and leave his concerns behind, or keep bringing up distressing subject matter that made her unconformable.

He caved in.

“I can show you at lunch, it would be a good way to archive it,”

“Like a souvenir?”

Yumi clunked her fist, what was he thinking?! That so-called Einstein wouldn't stop spamming scary text messages at four in the morning! She had to keep reassuring him like Hiroki, and she had to babysit tonight! Only now did he consider the possibility of being wrong, and that was only because his not-girlfriend didn't want to know the truth.

That's when she decided to step in.

“No, Aelita. There's a chance it could be him. I know this is painful to hear, but we need to make sure that alert isn't real,”

Aelita resisted the need to pinch herself. Not only she wasn't dreaming, but Yumi purposely reminded her of everything she was trying to move on from. It was true that Hopper's daughter was the guardian of Lyoko, but that shouldn't be the only purpose of her life. X.A.N.A forced her into that role to began with, and tried to take everything from her.

She would never let that happen again.

The princess smiled bitterly. “Then let's get started,”

Before Yumi could respond, the door opened.

'Why did I forget?!' The dark-haired girl silently swore to herself.

It was Ms.Meyers, back from her journey at the teacher's lounge. It took their math instructor a bit longer to refill her apple-shaped coffee mug. A certain faculty member thought it was a good idea to help themselves to half the pot she brewed without asking. Typical Delmas.

The annoyed subordinate quickly sat at her desk.

“What are you three doing here? Please, head off to class before you're late!”

That was when the three Lyoko Warriors were forced to make their leave. On their way out, the Japanese princess gave one last look at the virtual angel before they had to separate. It wasn't out of anger, just a reminder of what needed to be done.

'You better know what you're doing.'

Yumi thought to herself.

Little did she know, that Jeremie held the same option as well. In spite of his last-minute cowardice, the strategist did arrange this meeting in the first place. Even if it felt rushed, since he was very adamant on asking his programming partner about the pulsations. Now that Jeremie got his answer, all they needed to do was tell Odd and Ulrich at lunch.

Even if Sissi was going to be there.

Monday, January 6, 2009
12:31 PM

There were three things that Kadic's former mean girl needed to know.
What were these memories trying to tell her, why Ulrich's weird friends knew about them, and how William was involved.

She could vaguely recall the rabid look in her classmates' eyes, along with their parents during Visitor's Day. When those same students somehow turned into grotesque zombies that terrorized the whole school. The scared girl jumped off the roof with Ulrich at some point, running away from something she didn't want to see. One time, Yumi saved her from a swarm of monstrous rats, and Odd saved her once from a pack of literal monsters.

For some some reason, Sissi helped these outcasts before. Like she'll ever admit it, but it was nice to know that she wasn't completely useless. Even if it was mostly because of her past crush on Ulrich. She remembered wrapping his arm in a makeshift sling while an elevator was flooding. The same boy asked her to impersonate Yumi on picture day, so she can go on Lyoko. She distracted her father a few times, which brought the group more precious time. She was also the only person who helped Odd when a group of possessed people wanted him dead, including his own parents.

Unfortunately, she was still kind of abrasive. Not that Elizabeth wanted to be, but old habits died hard. She still bullied Aelita on her first day of school, which got her to retreat to Lyoko. Plotted several ways to get Ulrich back together with her, which failed, but were still not appreciated. She also got angry at Yumi a few times for 'stealing his attention'. Odd and Jeremie didn't have to deal with her mean streak as much, but a few pathetic insults were hurdled towards them at times. At first she didn't care about the group thought about her. However, after regaining a decent amount of her suppressed memories, it was hard not to feel a wave of regret.

Thankfully, she wasn't the only one. As the unofficial Lyoko Warrior headed towards the lunch room, Sissi knew she had to approach them carefully. The nervous girl kept William's warning into account, not just because of her complicated relationship with Ulrich's friends. For some reason, the boy she met yesterday saw a part of herself that was left forgotten. Elizabeth needed to know the full story, to fill that horrifying emptiness.

'Only ask them about the memories, then go away,'

That was all she could do. At first, Sissi thought about waiting until classes were over to ask one of them about peculiar events. So far, she was the most comfortable around Odd, but she knew they would just push her away. The principal's daughter knew the five were a clique that rarely let anyone in. William was an exception, but the drama between Ulrich and Yumi led to his exile.

'Was it really?' Sissi thought anxiously. 'Just what secrets are worth lying to everybody about?!' Not even the tired boy gave her the full story. Like it or not, this had to be done.

She took a deep breath, preparing herself for the negative reactions the group would inevitably give her. Their table was in the back of the lunch room, near one of the tall windows pouring sunlight into the building. Everyone was chatting and creating a lot of useless noise. The few quiet students were drawing or preparing for exams. Sissi was sitting at one of the rectangular tables near the lunch line. It was crowded, but nobody bothered sitting next to her. The principal's daughter wasn't surprised, but she saw no sign of William. She was truly on her own.

After forcing herself to stand up, Sissi paid more attention to her surroundings. She saw Herb and Nicholas laughing at a joke she would never get to hear. Milly and Tamiya were giving some kind of presentation to a few other girls they were near, likely about the Kadic Harold. Most of the soccer players were near the front door of the cafeteria, engaging in mindless chit-chat with some members of the art club. This is what normal looks like, if the recent outcast could ever obtain it.

It didn't take her long to reach the back of the lunch room, it was only a matter of time before somebody noticed her anyway.

“It's Sissi!” Odd whispered to Ulrich.

Speak of the devil.

The five were hovering over Jeremie's laptop, desperately trying to understand the meaning behind the super-scan's warning. Unfortunately, the two Einsteins weren't having any luck figuring out an answer to this massive problem. Yumi was about to suggest turning off the application completely, but the fear of X.A.N.A's return still remained. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, and Aelita just wanted to go back to her room and cry. The other four were more than aware of this, but that didn't change the fact that going to Lyoko seemed to be the only solution.

The promise all of them made yesterday was all for nothing, and Sissi Delmas was still getting in the way.

“Look, I know it's been a while, and we aren't really friends. But I've been getting these crazy memories lately, with these ugly looking monsters-”

That was when she met the team's judgment. All five of them were barely holding on to their emotions, but Aelita started breathing heavily. Somebody had to end this madness before it could spread like a virus. To the group's surprise, Ulrich stepped up to the task.

“This isn't the time,” He said with authority. “Aelita is helping Jeremie with a very demanding robotics project. You know how crazy Ms.Hertz is,”

“I'm sorry,” Sissi continued. “But I need to know what's really going on, Ulrich! You guys almost died-”

After blurting that out, she was met with the wrath of Lyoko's guardian. Her green eyes pierced the other girl's soul.

“My father died, Sissi. Are you happy? You aren't the only one dealing with...These things that don't make any sense! You need to stop running around and expecting other people to do what you say.” Tears began to pour from the virtual angel's face, and she began to walk away from her team.

“I need to go,”

Yumi almost followed her, but Jeremie stopped her.
“Give her some time,” he directed the team's older sister. She directed her gaze to the principal's daughter. The others followed suit, trying to get her to stop talking about X.A.N.A for one second-

“I'm sorry, William told me you guys know-”

Odd's eyes were wide open. It reminded the group of the times they could see the future before the supercomputer shut down.

“What did he say?”

Elizabeth sharped her focus.

“That you guys knew more than he did, about the monsters, and that thing behind it! Please, I don't want to forget anymore. You can hate me all you want. Just tell me the truth.”

The former oracle noticed that a few other kids were starting to look at them as a sick source of entertainment. Mainly the ones from the Kadic Harold. If the school's paper heard them talk about Lyoko, then their secret would leak out to the public. Not only would Kadic's student body think they're crazy, but those nosy reporters had a online blog that would be easy for the government to trace. Then they would come after Aelita after the most traumatic time of her life.

Jeremie whispered something to Yumi, trying to do damage control. Being the only girl on the team now meant that she had to talk to Sissi alone. That left Einstein and the others to create a diversion.

“If you're having night terrors, talk to Mr. Klotz. I don't understand what you're talking about, Sissi. People are starting to stare, and we need to give Aelita some space to heal. You shouldn't have scared her away like that,” Jeremie said with a sense of authority.

This startled the anxious girl, remembering the little presentation that Milly and Tamiya's table were giving. Those two would do anything for a scoop. The last thing she wanted was to have a mental breakdown that could be used as a headline for the Kadic Harold. No, this so-called plan wouldn't work at all. Sissi wouldn't be surprised if those tabloid reporters started writing their rough drafts by now.

She took a deep breath.

“I'm sorry, you guys. I should thought about what I was doing instead of venting about my dumb nightmares. I hope Aelita gets to feeling better, and that all of us can face whatever lies ahead. Just forget everything I said,” Sissi glared at the remaining four, without fear getting in her way.

“You already know what to do,”

Elizabeth Delmas slowly walked out of the building, ignoring anyone who got in her way. It was hard not to be angry at herself, and the fact that she still had no answers. If Ulrich and the rest of them wanted to pretend that nothing was going on, then fine. She knew that one of them was probably going to lecture her about scaring off that pink-haired princess anyway. Even if that person was most likely Yumi, the former mean girl knew ways to work around her short temper. Bringing up William's involvement will definitely catch her off guard.

'They aren't the only ones that are good at lying,”
Sissi thought bitterly.

She didn't know anything about Aelita's father dying, but at this point her anger was too strong. Nobody ever uses her and gets away with it, especially with how much she helped them in the past. The principal's daughter did want the guardian to stop grieving, so she reminded herself to avoid Aelita in particular. For now, she needed to prepare for Yumi's confrontation, finding William will have to wait until later.

If he even wanted to be found.

Monday, January 6, 2009
3:48 PM

Classes were finally over for the day, and the anxious boy's goal of remaining invisible was almost achieved. First, he went out of his way to sit in the back of every classroom, then the desperate student ate lunch in the bathroom before retreating to the dorms until the hour was over. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one who had the same idea. After a few minutes of running towards the dull building, William caught a glance of pink hair. Thankfully, he hid behind one of thick bushes to avoid making her panic worse. Aside from that, he saw none of the other Lyoko Warriors. X.A.N.A was recently defeated, after all. Of course they didn't want to talk to him.

Wait, how did he know that? Come to think of it, the boy was receiving all sorts of weird information, lately. From the words 'Waldo Schaeffer', to 'Project Carthage'. William had to go out of his way to focus on what actually happened to him. So far, he remembered waking up inside a random house that was inside of the woods, then he started seeing a translucent blue shield covering the sky. After that, X.A.N.A's former disciple noticed that Sissi was starting to get her memories back. While he did promise to keep Lyoko a secret, she still had every right to know. It was a form of mercy he never got to have while being under that thing's control.

A part of the boy didn't care of they got angry, but the latent defender still felt a form of sympathy for them. William couldn't help but feel there was something ominous in the air, and it not just because of the shield. If anything, he felt like it was trying to protect him against something he couldn't fully remember.

'Could he really be dead?'

But before the Lyoko Warrior could try answering that question, some of his 'comrades' decided it the perfect time to approach him was after History. Most of the students have already left the academic sector of Kadic, and were preparing to go to the library or the recreation room. As a result, the first floor felt a little hollow to to Odd and Ulrich, since William was currently lost in his own thoughts, feeling hazy from-

BANG!

“Hey! Watch were you going!” said a higher pitched voice.

Only now, did the tired boy realize what happened. He was trying to run back to his room again, and somehow bumped into Ulrich. This led to both boys falling on the hallway floor without thinking. Neither of them were hurt, it was just embarrassing. Odd saw Herb and Nicholas snickering, but they took quick care of the problem after using an angry glare. Sissi's former friends ran off after getting the memo.

“Need any help?”

The animal lover then held out their hand, but Ulrich was almost standing. He still accepted the offer.

“What just happened?”

“You bumped into me and both of us fell, dummy,”

The soccer player repeated his partner's actions. William still wasn't thinking straight, but at least he was off the cold floor. It took him a few moments to understand why the two wanted to see him.

It wasn't good.

“Did something happen?” Once again, the latent defender felt that familiar strength that he couldn't process yet. Was it some kind of compassion? The boy still didn't know, he only feel a faint electric pulse.

“Yeah, Sissi just told us she's remembering the return trips,” Odd tried to gently tell him the news. To their surprise, William wasn't angry. But why? The former oracle noticed this was how they acted when they could still see the future.

“She talked to us at lunch about it, and scared Aelita off!” Ulrich wanted X.A.N.A's general to realize what he's done. “You need to get her to stop,”

But that wasn't who he was talking to.

“You need to go to Lyoko,”

“What!?” Odd and Ulrich yelled at once, thankfully no one else was there to hear them.

“You need to know why Jeremie kept getting those alerts, it's the only way,”

“How did you know about the super-scan?!” Ulrich began to panic. “No, X.A.N.A can't be alive!”

“Let me handle this,” Odd reassured him. “I think you wait outside until I'm done. I'll text you, and then we can get Yumi,”

Their partner sulked, but he began to walk away. His footsteps echoed across the ceramic hallway.

“I'll remind you when she's done,”

“Okay,”

Odd carefully selected their question, making sure it didn't lead to a negative reaction. “Have you been feeling like yourself lately? I know you're not possessed anymore, you just feel different,”

“I know, but that's not important. Go to Sector Five, where the signal is the strongest. Trace it, and you'll see what I did,”

“What did you see? Was it the future?”

“No, it was because of the past. I wish I knew more Odd, but I can barely process what happened so far,”

Their eyes reflected the same compassion, since the team's 'final battle' with the deadly virus was only a few days ago. In spite of that, it felt like months or ages. While the five Lyoko Warriors made the pact to stop letting X.A.N.A control their lives, the memories of his torment still remained. A good portion of them were connected to his general, but it was easy to forget that was only an illusion. While the A.I did poison their perception of William, it didn't change the fact that he was a victim as well. Everyone on Odd's team knew that, but it easier experiencing this realization instead of just reminding each other.

“Can you still talk to Sissi? It's not because of the secret, Aelita's just going though a hard time right now. She just lost her father,”

“Oh, yeah. I'm sorry for her loss. I didn't know Sissi would do something like that, but I shouldn't have pushed her.”

The feline archer nodded. “Right, I need to go back to Ulrich. Looks like we got work to do,”

The latent defender agreed. “Same here,” his voice grew bit firm. “Don't forget what I said though. Be careful,”

Before William could leave the vacant building, Odd had one more question to report back to their strategist.

“Wait! Are you saying that X.A.N.A's not dead?!”

At that point, Odd realized they weren't talking to version of William they remembered. No, the mystery involving him and that tainted virus wasn't solved yet. What they did know is that everyone changed after fighting against him, and now the battle must continue. The least the former oracle could do was get a confirmation about the group's greatest fear.

The electric pulse activated again.

“He was never alive to began with,”

The boy looked at the shield covering the sky, finally realizing his duty.

Chapter Text

Monday, January 6, 2009
5:47 PM

Sissi Delmas laid in her bright orange bed, crestfallen after her 'talk' with Yumi. It was a long day for her emotionally, and looking at fashion magazines didn't make her feel better this time. In the girl's ears was her headphones, listening to music on a white CD player.

“All the colors start to blend, the system overloads again.”

Her mind was slipping in and out of reality, almost like she was going to sleep. She wasn't in her pajamas, but Elizabeth was under the covers, anyway. It was easier than getting up and facing the crazy people outside her door.

“Know it all before you try.”

'Try what?' the unofficial Lyoko Warrior thought.'I already gave them a chance, and it blew up in my face!'

She pulled her headphones out and pulled out her cellphone instead. Sissi did regret not asking William for his phone number, but both of them weren't dating. That's what your supposed to do with boys, right? That's what her favorite magazines said. She did have Ulrich's number, but he never wanted to be with her. Now he was making googly eyes at Odd. Yumi probably let him down gently.

'Like she'll ever do that to me.' Her mind flashed back to their encounter.

“What have you done, Sissi?!” The clique's older sister turned towards her. “The Kadic Harold will never stop harassing us now! Aelita needs time to grieve!”

“I'm sorry, Yumi! I really mean it. The only reason why I went up to you guys in the first place was to understand-”

“I know. And you'll be remembering more, too. How did this happen?!”
The hardened warrior forced herself not to cry.

The principal's daughter paused for a second. “It all started with these crazy dreams I've been having lately. At first, I just saw monsters. But later, I got flashes of you and the rest of your clique saving me.”

“Clique?” Yumi laughed bitterly. “After everything you pulled with Herb and Nicholas?”

Sissi stepped back, understanding the older girl's emotional state. “Point taken. Anyway, I thought of just asking Odd. But he would just ignore me,”

Yumi ignored the unintentional misgendering. She wasn't actually friends with the group, so Elizabeth didn't know that Odd recently came out as non-binary. Either way, it was good they didn't hear that. The eccentric artist was dealing with another loose end, anyway.

Speaking of that.

“You said William told you to go to us, right?” The interrogation continued, making Sissi more unconformable than ever before. In spite of his absence, she didn't want to throw him under the bus.

“He-he did,” It felt like the girl was being shoved into a tightly compacted box. “But he told me not to go too far, Yumi. I shouldn't have done that in the first place,” Sissi looked sadly at the ground. To think she planned on using him against the other girl.

“He still pushed you into doing that, Sissi,” The older sister crossed her arms flippantly. “I know both of you didn't mean to cause harm, but everyone is still upset,” Including her.

“Right. I'll get out of everybody's way,” The principal's daughter forcibly ended her interrogation. “Goodbye Yumi. I hope we can all find some peace, especially Aelita,” She ran off defiantly.
The other girl stood there in shock, slowly realizing how much pain her anger has caused. Were they really so different, after all?

A million questions flew though Sissi's head before her phone started ringing. It was her father, once again reminding her to study for an exam next week. As much as she hated doing schoolwork, Elizabeth hated thinking about Yumi's outburst even more. Maybe she'll ask William for his phone number, too. Who cares if they weren't dating? At least they could bond over being friendless freaks.

At least she had someone on her side.

Monday, January 6, 2009
7:04 PM

Yumi sighed in relief, she finally convinced her little brother to finish the rest of his homework. Even if he was lying, at least she didn't have to hear those loud, annoying chip-tunes anymore. Her parents were cracking down on Hiroki's behavior too, even it was just the product of being a normal ten-year old. In spite of this, the older sister still allowed him to play it for at least an hour. Mom and dad can afford to be less strict with them, anyway.

The dark-haired girl closed her bedroom door and straight-up fell on the comfy mattress. Her black flowery quilt cushioned her fall, and she immediately grabbed her old Totoro plush. It was a little dissolved, but that did stop it from being helpful during hard times. Yumi held it tight while embracing one of her few chances to get some peace and quiet.

It was no secret that she had a rough day, but it was worse because everyone made that promise yesterday after shutting down the supercomputer. Now Jeremie was letting his paranoia take over again because of the super-scan's warning. To be fair, the same news shocked Yumi as well. Unlike him, she had to bury her emotions just to organize a talk with Aelita.
'Is this all my life is?' The makeshift consular asked herself. 'Just taking care of people while they ignore my needs?'

All the awful resentment she held back was flooding straight to her heart. Yumi knew the rest of them cared, but those feelings still remained after years of enduring X.A.N.A's manipulation. It didn't help the useless 'love triangle' between her, Ulrich, and William made it easier for the A.I to weaponize their emotions. Of course that thing would still continue to haunt them-to hurt her in ways that she could never forget.

The Lyoko Warrior stood up. 'No, I'm going to make that monster face what he's done. Nobody will ever use me again,'

Deep down inside, she knew that X.A.N.A wasn't dead. Yumi was too used to dealing with the program's constant mind tricks to ever let her guard down. Now a part of her was looking forward to going on Lyoko and forcing his monsters to face her wrath. It was better than talking about her problems, anyway.

If only it were that easy.

RING! RING! RING!

Yumi fished around her backpack, and after a minute, she managed to find her cell phone. She pulled up her missed calls, and saw it was from Ulrich. The older girl sharped her resolve, already aware of what he was going to bring up. She pressed the call button.

“Sorry, Ulrich. I needed to find my phone,”

His voice echoed on the other end.

“It's fine.”

Yumi could hear his hesitation.

“What's going on?”

The younger boy found his voice.

“We need to go to Sector Five,”

“What for?”

Ulrich tried to avoid bringing up William.

“Einstein's been talking to Odd about tracing some kind of signal. He says the terminal on Sector Five can help, but we need Aelita to do that,”

His comrade saw right though that.

“Did William say anything about this? I know he talked to Odd earlier,”

The star athlete swallowed.

“He did, and for some reason, Odd thinks he has some kind of ability similar to their Future Flash.”

“And he didn't tell us? Aelita got visions after her first trip to earth, could he be seeing the past instead?”

A different voice answered her.

“No, Yumi. He was very specific about tracing a wireless signal on Sector Five. He did say that something happened the past that caused it though,”

“Odd? What else did he tell you?”

She could hear heavy breathing.

“That X.A.N.A was still alive. He's not possessed, but it felt like the guy's acting like a completely different person,”

Painful memories rushed though the girl's mind again.

“What are you talking about?!”

Ulrich answered her again.

“He was out of it, Yumi. Like something's always on his mind that he's not allowed to talk about. He even bumped into me and fell on the floor. Took the guy a few minutes to process why Odd and I were there,”

Yumi sighed in relief.

“Look, I'm just glad William's back to normal. Even if-you know what I mean,”

Odd took control again.

“Same here. That's why this recent news came out of nowhere. One minute, Will's fumbling around. Then, he starts spouting out prophecies and vague warnings we don't fully understand. That's what scares me, you guys. I just want to know what's really going on,”

The other two agreed. Tomorrow, the whole team was going to Sector Five to figure out whatever it was that William saw. They needed to find answers, somehow. Even if Sissi was still curious, what the group did tonight was more than enough to stop her from investigating. The expediton was much more important, to find out why X.A.N.A was still alive, and how to stop him.

“Right, but is there even a way to kill X.A.N.A?”

Yumi couldn't stop herself from asking, out of fear.

Odd sighed from remorse.
“Funny you asked that, cause Will said he was never alive in the first place,”

Now the older sister was breathing heavily.

“But there has to be another way,” Odd could hear her distress. “Like a loophole we can use to imprison him somehow. Don't give up, you guys. I know this news sucks, but our promise from yesterday still stands,”

“Odd. I need to finish the rest of my French homework,” Yumi thought of an excuse at the last minute. “I know our promise is important, but I can't concentrate with all this chaos just showing up out of nowhere! I need to clear my head for tomorrow. I just hope Aelita is ready,”

“She will be,”

Odd hoped they were right.

Monday, January 6, 2009
9:12 PM

His room was too quiet. It was still messy and filled with miscellaneous supplies, but the boy preferred that to all the noise outside. He didn't want to look out the window, because the shield was still there. It was always there, staring back at Dunbar like the abyss.

'What's happening to me?!' William was confused and terrified. 'Why don't I feel like myself anymore?!'

It was almost a week since he was free from X.A.N.A's manipulation. The fearful Lyoko Warrior was still trying to find a way to regain his sense of self, but it felt like two parts of him were clashing with each other. The William of the past was a normal person that everyone actually liked. Who tried too hard to receive their approval, while ironically pretending to be rebellious. It didn't help that he wasn't capable of loving anyone. His feelings for Yumi weren't romantic, and they never changed even after he joined her team. That didn't change the fact that she was the only one who knew about his mental illness.

'Even after all this time, she still didn't tell them.' The tired defender held his orange medication bottle, and took out a single tablet. He wasn't stupid enough to take more than one. William was aware of the consequences, after going to Dr. Bridger last year.

“I suggest taking some anxiety medication, after what happened at his old school. It sounds like your child's problem could be chemical, after all the progress he's made so far. Only take one tablet, William. Taking more than that could lead to you going to the emergency room.”

After his parents pulled him out of London's public school, they decided to try transferring him to somewhere more peaceful. His uncle brought up Kadic, and how his aunt had wonderful time there when she was little. James and Lillian Dunbar were certainly tempted by the idea, and made arrangements with extended family members to help pay the tuition. Thankfully, their son was temporally home-schooled until the transfer was complete. It made passing the entrance exams easier, anyway.

“But how can our son do this without us? His anxiety attacks are painful, and the kids at his old school didn't understand that! The faculty tried their best, but they were overwhelmed with other responsibilities!”

William remembered their doubt, his mom thought he couldn't hear her argue with Aunt Briar over the phone. He silently agreed with her, even if she didn't bring up the all bullying he received. The boy used to be invisible back in London, until he started getting intrusive thoughts that didn't make any sense, but created enough fear to make him act strange. Like being aware of how easy it was to get hit by a car while walking to school, or how falling down a flight of stairs could possibly kill someone. What made this condition worse, is that these 'thoughts' never truly go away. They either got replaced by new phobias, or kept repeating inside of William's head.
One day, all the fear and anxiety built up from a few months at the hostile environment just exploded everywhere. All because their son didn't know where this disorder came from, but didn't want other people to think he was weak or useless. Only after his first anxiety attack did William tell his parents. While the principal was sympathetic, he still had to call his former student to his office, because of the past disturbance. That was when rumors began to form, about him being a public burden or an aspiring psychopath. As a sick result, A few London students went out of their way to make him to panic again, either out of boredom or a need to feel powerful.

'Just like X.ANA,' The Lyoko Warrior said to himself, while his mind was clear. The medication's effect fully activated after thirty minutes, but Dunbar was too tired to process the last strands of his anxiety. He already spent the whole day running away from the irrational fear that Yumi's friends hated him. Even though she never told anyone about his obsessive compulsive disorder. William often reminded himself of this, because his relationship with her-no his team can still be salvaged.

The William of the present, the defender who endured months of abuse at the hands of that rogue program, always knew that. That the chemical impulses he felt under and outside of the A.I's control were familiar to him. After all, it was hard for that tainted virus to hurt someone who is already sick. It was no surprise that Dunbar managed to break free sometimes, even if one of the other Lyoko Warriors tried to help. The boy felt that particular electric pulse so many times, that it just became normal to him. Even though it came from X.A.N.A, now it became his newfound strength.

But the fear still remained.

William covered himself in the thick blankets of his bed. Still wanting to feel some semblance of peace. He used to cry after having anxiety attacks, but now he just felt hollow inside. Fatigue played a role in this too, but the latent defender still didn't feel like going to sleep. He still can't remember his dreams, or how they were connected to the shield.

Yes, it was still there.

William didn't want to think about it, though. That was problem he could deal with tomorrow, after he talked to Sissi. Thankfully, Odd agreed to talk to the rest of the Lyoko Warriors about Sector Five. Knowing Jeremie, he would want to find a reason behind all the alerts the super-scan was receiving. Dunbar had no doubt the group's strategist could convince the rest of his team to plan an exhibition. The latent defender needed them to see the barrier protecting the sky, so he could find out why it was there in the first place. At this point, William is somewhat aware of the connection that he shares with X.A.N.A, but he still doesn't know how powerful it is.

For now, he could only dream.

Tuesday, January 7, 2009
12:54 AM

Pink hair.

Like Aelita, but older.

Who is she? Why is she here?

Run away, you need to run away, Aelita.

Before X.A.N.A finds the shield.

He can't get in. I won't let him.

Don't call for me. I don't deserve it.

I'm so tired.

Tuesday, January 7, 2009
3:32 AM
Anthea Hopper paused for a moment before opening her phone. It was her first day returning to France after dealing with a few difficult circumstances. One of them was checking into a cheap motel to avoid government suspicion, the other was making sure her phone and laptop weren't being monitored. She planned on continuing the search for her daughter tomorrow, while still maintaining a safe distance. The last thing Aelita's mother wanted was an excuse for Tyron to follow her. The Green Phoenix had already done enough.

'What was that strange message talking about?' The older programmer wondered. She checked her voicemails again, and listened to the mysterious recording.

“Pink hair,” a weak, younger voice answered. “Like Aelita, but older,”

'How does he know about my daughter?' Anthea thought to herself. 'Is that boy her age?'

“Who is she? Why is she here?”

'To stop the Green Phoenix from taking away the last member of my family. I will never forgive you, Tyron!' Her anger returned for moment, before she continued listening.

“Run away, you need to run away, Aelita,”

'I'm not her,' The tired mother wanted to respond, but she knew that voice-no that boy couldn't hear her.

“Before X.A.N.A finds the shield.” The recording started to collect static.

'What shield? Tyron would have mentioned it before he found out about my betrayal,' The pink-haired traitor remembered coldly. 'I did what I had to do,' She reminded herself again.

“He can't get in. I won't let him.”

'Waldo, what have you done?!' Anthea knew that program was supposed to guard Lyoko from the Green Phoenix's intervention. Now they wanted to control what her late husband had created. Now the only saving grace his wife had was that Tyron still thought that Schaeffer was alive.

“Don't call for me. I don't deserve it.”

'No, tell me where she is!' Aelita's mother thought selfishly. She knew whoever sent the message was in pain, but she still didn't know who the boy was. In the back of her mind, the older programmer wanted him to be safe, but she didn't even know his name.

“I'm so tired.”

'We all are,'

Anthea felt defeated. She thought that going over the call again would lead to her finding information that she glossed over, but it yielded no results. The pink-haired traitor first got the message a few minutes after midnight, when she about to go to bed. Now Aelita's mother couldn't stop thinking about her next move, and how Tyron could possibly counter it.

'What a sick game.'

If only she knew about the other players.

Chapter Text

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
8:16 AM

“Aelita! We need to talk, for real this time!” Jeremie said while knocking on her door.

It was already breakfast, but the group noticed that a certain pink-haired programmer wasn't there. They gave her about ten minutes to show up, only to realize that she never left the girls' dormitory. Normally, Yumi would have reached out to Aelita. Unfortunately, the older sister normally eats breakfast with her family before walking to school. That left Jeremie with a task that he should have finished yesterday.

“Why are you here?” A jaded voice answered on the other side. The door was still locked, but the guardian couldn't hide behind it forever.

“I'm sorry, Aelita. I should have told you the entire truth instead of bailing at the last minute. I texted Yumi about the alerts on the super-scan first, but I should've told everyone on the group chat. The only reason why I didn't was because it was past three in the morning. Then I panicked because I didn't know what was going to happen next. Because there was a chance I could be wrong about the worst case scenario, and just upset everyone for no reason. I thought that you helping me at lunch would confirm it was a false positive, until Sissi caused a scene yesterday. Now I understand what's really going on.”

“You do? Then tell me,” The bitter voice demanded an explanation, after all the hardship she endured after he discovered Lyoko.

“That X.A.N.A is back, and William knows something we don't. Odd and Ulrich talked to him yesterday after he encouraged Sissi's behavior. Odd said that he's been remembering past events, including his possession. Unfortunately, he doesn't fully understand what happened, but he did give us a lead. To follow a wireless signal on Sector Five, and the terminal can help us do that. I know it sounds crazy, but Odd also told me that X.A.N.A may have left him important information. Even if it's untrustworthy, it's all we got so far,”

Jeremie heard the lock click out of place.

“I already know,”

Aelita looked more disheveled than usual. Her hair was dry and slightly messy, and she was currently wearing a faded yellow dress with visible wrinkles. It looked like the girl didn't even take a shower, just slipped on something easy without even thinking about going outside. Her tan socks were slightly dusty, and right next to her bed were a pair of black Mary Janes that were conveniently ignored.

'Now I'm really glad that Sissi isn't here,” Her programming partner thought to himself.

If she didn't cause a scene yesterday, the image of the principal's daughter freaking out over Aelita's outfit would have been slightly funny. He could even imagine the rest of his friends making a few snappy comments.

It was better than dealing with this.

“Yumi texted me at midnight about all of this, she wanted to prepare me for today. Said there was no turning back.”

The two younger students were currently sitting on a plain, rose-colored bed with a couple of off-white pillows behind them. Aelita had Mr. Puck in her lap, still trying to hold on to some comfort before the expedition. Time was moving too fast for her to grieve properly, it was very tempting to just stay inside a peaceful bubble. Too bad her friends were waiting.

“She's right. You're the only one who can operate the terminal,”

Jeremie wanted to close his eyes and drift off to sleep himself. He fully understood his partner's thought process. A couple of days ago they were all celebrating the end of their battles on Lyoko, and now they had to keep on fighting a war that never seemed to end. It felt like that promise they made after turning off the supercomputer meant absolutely nothing. They were all tired, but the team will have deal with those complicated emotions later. Sector Five came first.

“I know. Just help me get though this today. I'll be better by tomorrow, Sissi just caught me off guard,”

“You bet, Aelita. Let's get this over with,”

The two stood up, fully processing the trials that lie ahead. Aelita shyly offered her hand, and Jeremie did the same. They slowly trekked towards the outside world, hoping to one day experience that same calmness again. Even if they were just going to the cafeteria again, it was hard not to constantly be aware of future ambushes. That virus loved being needlessly cruel.

'William better be right,' The future couple thought together. 'We can't come back empty-handed,'

They won't.

Wednesday, January 8, 2009
7:58 AM

“So we have to wait until lunch to go?” Odd ate the last of the vending machine's vinegar chips. “Shouldn't we go now?” They asked halfway between bites.

“X.A.N.A hasn't attacked yet,” Jeremie pocketed a second granola bar. They only had time for a very short breakfast before heading to their first class. As a result, the animal lover insisted on a trip to the closet vending machine.“That, and more people are getting suspicious of us, like Jim or Yumi's parents,”

“Right,” Ulrich nodded. “You probably shouldn't mention that near her, though,”

“Point taken,”

The four of them were near Kadic main academic building, again. It was only a short walk from the cafeteria, after all. That made it easier for the Lyoko Warriors to wait for their last member, and get some snacks along the way. Jeremie and Aelita didn't get much food compared to Odd and Ulrich, but the eccentric artist was always hungry anyway.

“Where's Yumi?” Aelita spoke up for the first time. “We can't be late again, people are on to us,”

“It's okay, Princess,” Ulrich reassured her. “We still have time, Yumi doesn't want to be late, either,” He paused for a moment. “She's got a lot on her shoulders, too,”

Before the disheveled girl could respond, the star athlete's roommate saw a black silhouette in broad daylight. Since the sky was clear again, it was easy for Ishiyama to stick out from the bright scenery. The sunlight covered the trees, grass, and part of the academic building. The rest of the group was covered in the shaded part of Kadic's architecture, meant to protect against harsh weather.

“She's here, the Calvary has been assembled!” Odd smirked, still trying to help Aelita forget about Sissi.

The fan-wielder released a small smile. “Yeah, I would have been earlier if Hiroki didn't forget to pack his lunch,”

Ulrich was still a bit concerned. “Did your parents help?”

Yumi was serious again. “No, they were stuck in traffic. Dad had a doctor's appointment,”

“Hope it goes well,”

“Yeah, it's just a check-up. I just wish Hiroki didn't forget earlier, he was supposed to do it last night,”

The sword user sighed. “That's just how it is, things just coming up out of nowhere,”

The older sister directed her gaze at Jeremie.

“So what's the plan for Sector Five?”

“We go at lunch, since there currently no X.A.N.A attacks,” He adjusted his glasses. “I want to get this over with as much as the rest of you, but our teachers are stricter now about skipping. Including using the infirmary as an excuse,”

Odd rolled their eyes, “What a bummer,”

“If an attack does happen, we focus on that and explore tomorrow. We really need to be more cautious now, because some people might remember the return trips.” Jeremie refused to say her name, but everyone knew what he was trying to say.

Aelita still didn't want to speak.

“Sounds like a plan,” Ulrich nodded. “But we're still a few minutes late,”

Yumi began to run. “See you at Alegbra!” She looked at the rest of her friends before taking off. The last things she wanted was to get in more trouble with the teachers. The dark-haired girl needed time to bring her grades up, too. It was hard to forget about that future university scholarship.

The others followed close behind, with Ulrich and Odd catching up to her. Aelita and Jeremie were farther away, but were still reachable. They knew that Ms.Meyers didn't respond well to lateness, but Aelita already came up with an excuse. She would tell the strict professor they were comforting her after her father's death. At least the faculty was aware of Sissi's outburst. That should make it harder for her to investigate the Factory. Along with the help of an old ally, who still couldn't remember his sacrifice.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
9:01 AM

William wasn't the best at math, but he did try his best to pay attention. The boy's grade in Alegbra was decent, even if he wanted it to be higher. When he was home-schooled, one of his parents always had to give him more details by going over the equations step by step. They couldn't just leave their son to his own devices, because the subject wasn't English or History. His clone may have been an idiot, but Jeremie programmed his academic skills correctly. Unfortunately, the bug in the doppelganger's code made turned the real William into a laughing stock that nobody could take seriously.

People now looked at him weird in the hallway, not expecting a tired look or a vacant stare. Not that he was surprised, the sixth Lyoko Warrior was aware of the “funny” things his clone often said. After the boy's rescue, he could remember Emmanuel asking him how “the butterflies in his stomach” were doing. William just told him to leave. It was just like his old school, with the other students trying to get a reaction out of him. It didn't help that the Special Education department was in a room separated from the rest of his peers. At least Kadic didn't have that problem.

That didn't change the high expectations placed on him. Being a good student with a disability (or more, William didn't hear the other possible diagnosis last year.) just made the faculty assume that good lesson plans and encouragement are enough to manage various health conditions. The consular there did say there was a chance he had a form of attention deficient/hyperactivity disorder, too. The boy wouldn't be surprised. The only reason why he didn't get any other kind of medication was because of the potential side effects. Dr. Bridger had to explain to him in a way that would sway William from thinking it would solve all of his problems.

'Like it was that easy,' The latent defender thought coldly.

The boy was grateful that Kadic's student body stop talking about him, he just wished it wasn't at Sissi's expense.

'Speaking of her,' he started planning. 'I need to talk to her again. I don't want to, but everything's gonna get worse if I don't. It already feels like the sky is falling,'

Bad joke aside, he needed to find a time to act. They had a lot of classes together, but William needed to explain his absence from lunch. He knew they only had morning classes together because he chose to take different electives from her. Mainly English and World History as opposed to Support Math and Physical Science. Due to his daughter's poor academic performance, Principal Delmas decided to have her placed in classes that would help struggling students. He hoped one day she would take her studies seriously.

Unfortunately, that never happened. As a result, the subjects that Elizabeth found harder happened to be her last two classes. William and the original five Lyoko Warriors had Alegbra in the morning. The next class was French, and Sissi would join them because Ms.Kensington understood that a good portion of the students spoke French as a second language. He needed to wait until the class was over to talk to Sissi and apologize. While it was her decision to talk to Yumi's friends, he did give the mean girl a push. That was what the boy processed after having some time to himself yesterday.

Like it or not, William needed to prepare himself for the future confrontation.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
12:15 P.M

“Come on, we don't have time to lose!” Ulrich raised his voice with a sense of urgency. The star athlete and his olive green skateboard were ahead of all his friends.

Odd and Yumi remained close behind him, one on a bright purple skateboard and the other on a black scooter.

“He's right!” Yumi alerted the back line. “We only have forty-five minutes left!”

“Yeah, and we'll probably starve!” Odd added their commentary with annoyance.

“Give us a break, we don't have as much experience with these things!” Jeremie answered, while fiddling with his cyan scooter.

Aelita didn't say anything while riding her pink skateboard, but she did agree with her programming partner. Sector Five was aggravating enough.

The group was riding though the grimy sewers underneath the school. Stern was near the construction site that lead to the elevator. All they needed to do was descend further into the heart of the Factory. Then the Lyoko Warriors would assume the positions they have taken for years. Nothing about the place was dangerous, aside from a few stray rats and insects. In spite of this, the group was used to being chased by specters, or anyone possessed by X.A.N.A's machinations. All the waste and the disgusting smell did was raise the tension.

Like nothing ever changed.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
12:17 P.M

Sissi looked at her cellphone, annoyed that only a few hours have passed since her talk with William. It was hard to admit that most of what happened was her fault, even if he apologized about pushing her intentions.

'So I failed again?' The downtrodden girl asked herself. 'At least I'm not the only one,' She almost gave a bitter laugh before hesitating, not wanting people to give her weird looks again.

This time the principal's daughter was eating alone, if she even went near the rectangular tables again, someone would say they were “saving a seat.” Elizabeth used to pull this stunt when Herb and Nicholas still wanted to hang out with her, but Delmas never learned from Ulrich's constant rejections.

Until now.

Sissi was lucky that one of the small circular tables wasn't taken, but that was most likely on purpose. The Kadic Harold had a blog now, and it was very easy to access with a personal laptop or during the computer labs. Milly and Tamiya still handed out newspapers, but that was more for publicity now. With a few of the older girls taking the aspiring reporters under their wings, it now became a proper tabloid. It was sad how Jim wasn't aware of this recent development, since he still thought it was just the younger kids playing around. The faculty was unaware of how Brynja took advantage of the school's power gap after Sissi's downfall. Now nobody wanted the former mean girl to be on top of the academy's social ladder again.

To be fair, she did cause a lot of chaos. Even if it was an unkept secret that Elizabeth wasn't very good at lying, using, or even naming calling people. Rumors about a student's love life were enough to entertain a population of bored children. It was certainly better than working on homework or studying for an exam, so gossip spread like wildfire. Sissi didn't know how much stress the Lyoko Warriors were in while she was trying to get Ulrich's attention. In the end, the so-called “love triangle” crashed and burned anyway.

Now she needed a new start.

'What am I supposed to do?' The principal's daughter was still confused, and her anger quickly turned into sadness. It would be very easy to just beat herself up over recent events, but Sissi didn't even have the energy.

Until she saw a familiar face.

“I'm sorry I pushed you into talking to them.” William said after French was over. The two were in the hallway, next to a row of various unused lockers. The rest of the kids already left the room, only the two of them stayed behind.

“You didn't, I needed to know what happened,” Elizabeth's response was a mix of annoyance and remorse. “It's not my fault that Yumi gets angry at everything,”

The anxious boy shook his head. “I brought up those memories in the first place. Yumi always has to do damage control. You know that,”

“Yeah,” Sissi nodded. “I failed again, didn't I?”

Dunbar sighed. “At least you're not the only one,”

Sissi was a bit surprised. Last time it felt like he skipped lunch. Looks like the older boy was paying the price for that, judging by the bigger portion Rosa gave him. The lunch lady could always tell when a student was struggling in some way, even if she didn't know the whole story. Elizabeth felt the same way towards William. In spite of her earlier mistake, the former mean girl wanted to know what was going on with him. Along with filling the horrible emptiness inside her, caused by a lack of memories.

If only he knew the truth behind his own past.

“You can sit here if you want,” Sissi said after the tired boy left the now empty lunch line. Like her, nobody wanted to sit near him. William paused for a few seconds before accepting her offer.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
12:31 P.M

“Quickly, get to the elevator! We need to get to that terminal!” Jeremie raised his voice with urgency.

The four other warriors were standing in the middle of the Core Zone. They were surrounded by disjointed platforms sticking out everywhere. The old version of this zone used to have those platforms move and change shape in various locations, but Aelita and Jeremie reprogrammed it to stop. That specific detail didn't stick out to them anymore.

What the warriors did notice, was the area was completely empty. Aside from the environment itself, all that stuck out was the sound of electricity flowing though the Core of Lyoko like a river, or blood to a beating heart. The guardian would certainly agree with that. Along with the feeling that something was wrong.

That didn't change the fact that her team needed to get the job done.

“You heard him,” Aelita said before taking off. “To the Celestial Dome!”

The elevator was slightly larger than it was before. Aside from that, it was a single platform with the walls having the pattern of a dartboard. The mechanism had a blue tint, just like the rest of Sector Five. It traveled up to the exit, and down to the lower levels, where the Core still remained.

The virtual angel was the first to get on the contraction. She was followed by the Japanese princess and the restless samurai. The feline archer leaped onboard to avoid being late. Thankfully, they were right on time since the elevator started moving upwards.

“Whew!” Odd wiped their digital forehead. “Almost got stranded!”

“Yeah, right. You can still climb walls, you know,” Ulrich teased them back.

“With those cat-like reflexes,” Yumi continued their banter. It took some weight off her shoulders.

Aelita didn't say anything until the group reached their destination.
“Come on, lunch is almost over! We can't be late again,” She said while trying not to let the stress overwhelm her. The other Lyoko Warriors were counting on the guardian's expertise to understand what X.A.N.A's former disciple needed to show them.

The Celestial Dome was actually the 'building' that housed most of Sector Five. It was also near the only exit, but standing on the left side of the Dome was a simple interface. This was the terminal that used to store all of X.A.N.A's data before the virus fled to the Network. However, the interface had another purpose. It also has access to all of Lyoko's data, more than what the towers could store. If anything could trace a random wireless signal, it was this.

The virtual angel got right to work, while the other three were on the lookout for monsters. Before the final battle, mantas would normally hatch from the back of the Celestial Dome and try to devirtualize the group. Especially Aelita, who was the only one who knew how to use the terminals. Now the lack of monsters was starting to make the Lyoko Warriors paranoid. The A.I created ambushes before, and all he had to do was not attack for a few days just to lower their guard down.

While Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi were compulsively scanning the area, Aelita was moving various blocks of data on the terminal's tablet. She stopped for a moment to give their strategist a progress report.

“Jeremie, I started a program that can trace wireless signals. Since William told us to go to Sector Five, it's mostly likely around here,”

“Okay, just send me the results. You got this,”
The guardian nodded gratefully. “Thank you, Jeremie. I'm sending the results now,”

What Aelita didn't tell her programming partner was that she transferred the terminal's data at the same time she was witnessing the results. The daughter of Waldo Schaeffer was going to need all the support she could get after they were finalized. The program wasn't just tracing all the wireless signals in Sector Five, it was revealing what those signals were connected to, from hardware to software. All they had to was spot the anomaly.

It was worse than they could have ever imagine.

“What is this?! I don't understand!” The pink-haired girl could no longer hide her distress. “Why is a giant shield covering the entire country?! Did X.A.N.A do this?!”

She began to collapse from fear, but Ulrich and Yumi ran over to her to prevent her from falling.

“Aelita!” Stern tried to help her. “What's going on, you can talk to us,”

They were interrupted by Franz Hopper's apprentice.

“I don't believe this! Why is there a barrier covering France? Did-Aelita take a deep breath please-it'll be alright,” Belpois tried to convince himself.

“Stop! We need to go to back to school so they won't catch us, understood?! After that, we'll talk about this,”

Yumi tried to take control of the situation. Odd and Ulrich were confused and needed to know why the two were panicking. The older sister knew that's not what the team's programmers needed.

“It's not just that Yumi!” Aelita was hyperventilating. “The program found another signal, and it's coming from William's cellphone!”

“What-” Before the dark-haired girl could finish, a white flash enveloped the entire group. It sent them back to the scanners to be peacefully devirtualized. Looks like Einstein saved them again.

“Transfer, everyone! Yumi's right, we need time to process all of this. Devirtualization!”

The scanners opened one by one, with Odd running out of theirs to make room for Ulrich's exit. Aelita and Yumi left slowly by comparison, still unable to comprehend the terminal's results. The other three got the information, but there was uneasy tension between the girls. All their leader could do was try to salvage the situation.

“Here's the plan,” Jeremie's voice had a more commanding tone. “We take a few days to rest to see if this really is a X.A.N.A attack. That way, we'll know if it's an ambush-yes, even if it's tomorrow.” Belpois looked at his team like a proper general. “If nothing happens, we'll talk to William so we can analyze his cellphone. I know all of you think this barrier is some kind of prison that X.A.N.A created, but there's a chance that Franz Hopper made it instead. We can't just assume the worst, that's how we lost in the past,”

Nobody said a word.

Chapter Text

Wednesday, January 8, 2009
1:16 P.M

It made sense for gym to be directly after lunch. Unfortunately, Ulrich and his team had to rely on snacks from the vending machine again. Odd tried their best to help, claiming to have a 'secret stash' in their backpack. It did keep the team going, but the kids knew they couldn't possibly miss dinner. The day was already taxing enough.

That didn't stop Jim Morales.
“Stern, keep your speed up! Oh, and don't forget to take a few breaths while running!”

Their gym teacher was enthusiastic as usual. Today everyone was running laps outside, along with doing their standard push-ups and pull-ups on various blue gym mats. Jimbo noticed how clear the sky was, along with it being the perfect temperature to have class outside again. The students were moaning and groaning, because they just had a week off to eat sinful food and to play with joyful presents.

“Now I know it's January, and all you just had your Christmas Break. But the holiday's no excuse to ignore your health. In fact, I used to have all sorts of good Christmas treats when I worked as a mall Santa!”

“You worked as a mall Santa?” Odd stopped themselves in the middle of a pull-up. “Wait, that actually makes sense,”

“Well,” Jim scratched the back of his head. “I would really like to talk about it, but this is more important. Back to work, Della Robbia!”

All the students laughed.

“That goes for the rest of you, even if you're doing push-up or laps!” Morales had a more disciplined look on his face, reminding the class that he was still their teacher. It was enough to get everyone to concentrate again. The Lyoko Warriors wished they planned for Jim's determination, but the earlier ordeal made it easier to forget. Now they were separated until the class was over. Ulrich, Aelita, and Jeremie were runners, while Odd and Yumi were doing pull-ups. Thankfully, Sissi and William were stuck in the group doing push-ups. That made it slightly easier to endure without a proper lunch.

(In spite of Odd's protests.)

Jim was right about one thing, though. It was definitely beautiful outside, in spite of the recent winter weather. The sky only had a few small clouds, and it wasn't too bright to everyone to see what they were doing. It certainly made forgetting about the shield easier, since it was invisible without using Sector Five's terminal.

Unless you're William Dunbar.

Wednesday, January 8, 2009
2:03 P.M

Electives were normally after gym, even if nobody considered Jim's subject to be 'a real class'. Especially Ulrich, who used to be on Kadic's football team before fighting X.A.N.A took up most of his time. Yumi was devoted to gymnastics, and Odd enjoyed having more time to draw before they ran out of free time, too. Fortunately for them, the academy's electives had subjects some of the team enjoyed learning. Ishiyama in particular was ecstatic to have a class that could help refine her Japanese. Odd was thrilled to take Art History, along with Aelita, back when she wanted to know everything about Earth. The only team members who weren't enthusiastic about their electives were Ulrich and Jeremie.

The star athlete was fluent in German, but didn't enjoy being reminded about his family's origins. His father was too demanding anyway. Einstein, on the other hand, thought that schoolwork would only get in the way while dealing with Lyoko. It didn't help that Belpois wasn't the best at English. For some reason, picking up another written language wasn't the same as learning a different branch of mathematics. That, and he was stuck with William.

'Remember the plan, remember the plan,' Jeremie kept restraining his anxiety. 'Yumi was right, we all need time, we all need time!'

Normally, the other boy was very easy to ignore. Unfortunately, after finding out about the shield, it was hard not to start prying for answers. Harder than Dunbar pretending that same shield didn't even exist.

“Now, it's time for our usual reading practice,” Ms. Kensington was in the middle of another lecture on the importance of learning classical literature. She believed it would make the lesson easier by giving students a chance to read the text at loud. Along with sharing the instructor's love of the subject, even if most of the children weren't interested.

The anxious technician took a small book out of his desk. For some reason, the energetic teacher thought it was a good idea to use Lord Of The Files to practice learning another language. When another classmate asked Ms. Kensington why she picked this book in particular, she didn't give a clear answer. Instead, the instructor just gushed over the author and the book's use of symbolism.

“Now turn to page one hundred and two,” Jeremie wanted to groan. The last thing he needed was more horror in his life.

At least the droning of the endless lessons made it easier for his anxiety to slightly die down, it helped that he never looked at William, too. The strategist just wanted to get the day over with so he could lay down in his soft bed. He could definitely relate to Aelita's need for everything in the world to stop moving so fast. It would have been easier to shut everything out, but that didn't change the fact his team still had a job to do.

'But how did X.A.N.A come back? If Franz Hopper didn't die, I would have known,' Jeremie thought to himself. 'Is waiting all we can really do now? I can't just ignore what happened on Lyoko!'

Looks like old habits die hard. In spite of the broken promise that Odd wanted the group to hold on to, their leader still let the virus consume his time and energy. Even if Yumi was right earlier about needing time to understand what the barrier covering the school-no the country was, it was hard not to fear the unknown. Waldo Schaeffer knew the hard way, not even he can control the future.

Wednesday, January 8, 2009
3:45 P.M

Yumi sighed, relieved that classes were finally over. After all the crazy news she just received, it was a welcome distraction. She found it harder to concentrate on tedious assignments, annoying gym drills, and overbearing teachers than usual. This is because a giant invisible barrier covered all of France.

'Calm down, Yumi. Calm down!'

The Japanese princess stopped herself from spiraling. She remembered the tactics a familiar enemy tried to use on her fellow warriors. More specifically the times X.A.N.A pretended not to attack the team by deactivating a recent tower or by doing absolutely nothing. They just needed more time to understand the A.I's latest scheme.

'Did he even create the barrier in the first place?' The girl let one last thought escape her. She remembered Jeremie warning the group not to jump to conclusions-

“Are you going to leave now?” A random voice pulled her back down to earth.

“Oh, sorry. I will! Just figuring out some studying plans!”

Mr. Fumet shook his head and assumed that Yumi was daydreaming about boys. Just like the 'good old days' when he started dating girls and pulling all kinds of pranks during his time at Kadic. If Ishiyama found out, she would roll her eyes for having the same opinions as her uptight family. Lyoko only increased the expectations of the people around her.

Normally going outside would help her feel better, but now it felt like a thousand eyes were watching the Lyoko Warrior's every move. It was the same as before, the sky was clear, and the sunlight was causing the leaves on the trees to dapple. It truly was a different world.

To distract herself, Yumi quickly pulled out her cell phone. Maybe the group chat could help. She walked towards the nearest source of shade in order to start reading.

Odd: goin to the rec room now

Ulrich: Ill be there

Odd: gonna watch soe prank shows, who else waana come?

Yumi: I'll go, but im playing foosball.

Odd: knock youself out!

Her family would be against blowing off obligations again, but the dark-haired girl decided to join her friends anyway.

'I have nothing to lose,' Yumi knew she had to take advantage of every peaceful moment she got. Nobody on her team knew what would happen next.

Wednesday, January 8, 2009
4:36 P.M

Odd tapped their foot on the floor anxiously. It may have been their idea to watch “Caught On Camera: Embarrassing Moments!”, but they had million questions about X.A.N.A's return. The feline archer was in the dark, just like Ulrich and Yumi. Only the group's tech experts understood the details discovered on the Celestial Dome. What stuck out to the other three warriors was the barrier's connection to William's cellphone. Everyone knew that Einstein was going to analyze it at some point, it was only a matter of time.

The eccentric artist yawned and put their hands behind the beige couch cushion. The recreation room was filled with the kick-knacks from it's local Foosball table, with Odd awaiting their turn. Unfortunately, their competitive friends were occupied, and watching the television was getting old. The actors on the screen were giving a reward to a mediocre video of a dog sitting on a whoopee cushion. At least they were distracted.

'I swear, these pranks are so weak! I could do better by myself!'

Della Robbia made a note to themselves to invest in a video camera later. The non-binary student did want to start a career in film after graduating, out of all of their aspirations, this one wasn't going be sacrificed. Not after everything the Lyoko Warriors went though. No, the team was not only going to move on from X.A.N.A, the group would still go to college and keep in touch with one another!

At least, that's what they hoped.

Della Robbia started laying down on the cozy sofa instead, Jim could whine about it later. After all, the three were currently the only ones there, so nobody was going to complain about shoe stains. Not even Sissi was there to supervise-for a good reason. The rec room was mostly beige, just like the couch the lazy dreamer was loafing around on. The chairs and tables were almost white, which gave the room a somewhat artificial feeling. The only color that stuck out was the screen of the television, and the shelf full of puzzles and board games. The younger students mostly used that, anyway.

“Hey Odd, it's your turn!” Ulrich woke them up.

“Okay, okay, wait a bit. Just a bit woozy,” His roommate replied.

“Did you almost fall asleep?” Yumi teased them.

Odd rubbed their eyes before leaping out of their dream-like daze.

“No, just watched some loser win the show. His video wasn't even that funny!”

Ulrich smirked. “Ready for a challenge?”

“You bet!”

Yumi kept the banter going. “I still almost beat you by one point,” She smirked at Ulrich. “Loser faces me,”

“Deal!” Odd was ready for a safer kind of excitement.

It was great having excuses to forget about your problems. Like not having to worry about how ignorant people perceived the tired artist. It was easier to just play the part of the jester, since laughter was supposed to be the best medicine. It definitely helped when Odd wanted to wear something like a pink hoodie with a skull on it, or start experimenting with some basic eyeliner. Just nothing too serious, or that same ignorance will lead to unconformable questions and blank stares. It was the same reason why they never brought up Lyoko or the real origin of Aelita. Some things were better left unsaid to the public.

Franz Hopper would agree.

Wednesday, January 8, 2009
6:13 P.M

Ulrich wanted to focus on studying, he really did. He had a few homework assignments and a upcoming test in History. But the growing concerns on Lyoko were just too hard to just push away. The star athlete scratched the back of his head from a sense of anger and confusion.

“Odd, what are we even doing?” The boy asked while feeling defeated.

“Why, studying for Napoleon's failed comeback tour, of course!” His non-binary roommate answered back.

“No, I'm talking about X.A.N.A's return, and the crazy shield thing. Just what is that all about? I know it made Yumi, Aelita, and Jeremie pretty upset. We're the only ones who didn't see the diagram,”

Della Robbia didn't want to talk about this, but they put it off for long enough.

“You're right, we never saw what the shield looks like, or what else it can do. I know Yumi probably thinks its some kind of prison that X.A.N.A made, but Jeremie says it might have something to do with Aelita's father.”

Ulrich put his head down and retreated further under the covers. It was a quiet evening so far, but that only made him more suspicious. The room the future couple shared was the same messy, but cozy living space. Kiwi was sleeping on the floor, but it won't be long before he runs under Odd's bed to make them feel safer. Various textbooks and handwritten notes were on the samurai's bed, while the feline archer was doodling and folding random paper cranes out of boredom. It took the Stern boy a few minutes to think about his next question, since he knew the guardian's father was a delicate subject.

“That reminds me of something, didn't William tell you that X.A.N.A never died to begin with? I know Jeremie said he needed to analyze the guy's phone after we sort all this out,”

The animal lover shook their head.

“No, Ulrich. William said that he was never alive to begin with. That still kind of puzzles me, but that thing is a computer virus. Not human,”

“Looks like we'll have to ask him to spill. We can't dodge from whatever it is William's trying to warn us about if he's being this vague,”

Ulrich sighed from exhaustion and irritation.

“Jeremie will give us the plan, anyway. He needs time to concentrate, along with Aelita. I just hope Yumi doesn't push herself too hard,”

Odd nodded in agreement.

“Same here. But that dumb test is like a few days away. Shouldn't we be getting back to that?”

“Like you plan on studying,” He pointed at the random drawings of Kiwi along with Jim as Paco the Disco King.

“This is just inspiration, my student. Only the master knows how to take a short break.” The artist beamed at their display of talent.

“You've been drawing for over an hour,”

“Just a reward for all my hard work,”

The two Lyoko Warriors went back to pretending to care about their schoolwork. Grades were important to Ulrich's family, but failing an exam was a speck of dust compared to life or death situations. If his father-no his parents realized what their son was going though, maybe they would start to have a new perspective. Unfortunately, the various return trips prevented that from happening.

The Stern boy wanted to “prove his worth” in the past, by playing for Kadic's football team. His father just to be impressed, being a sports fan himself, but his academic failures lead him seeing football as a “distraction.” That, and with Lyoko taking up most of his free time, it was just easier listening to someone's guidance instead of the star athlete just speaking up. The times he did only lead to Ulrich copying his father's anger, without him even realizing it. That's why he learned to keep his mouth shut in the present.

Odd and Yumi were the exceptions, since Jeremie and Aelita were younger, and everyone thinks they're smarter anyway. All three of them were on the front-lines, so it was easier talking to people doing the same work as him. The two Einsteins always valued him as a companion, but the older boy's mind was always “too different” from theirs.

That's why he always “followed the leader” in spite of a few disagreements. Some people were destined to lead, and others were meant to follow them. Belpois was in charge of maintaining the supercomputer and coming up with all their plans, so it was his job to guide them. Leaving Ulrich as the muscle, or the foot soldier who did all the hard physical work. Not a classmate who had just as much potential.

That's just what he learned.

Wednesday, January 8, 2009
9:56 P.M

She heard the piano again, an old familiar tune the grieving daughter still didn't know the name of. Aelita was younger, with shorter hair and a soft pink nightgown. She had to be either seven or eight years old, but more importantly, the girl in the memory was happy. Her parents held both of her hands while walking though a park, with white roses covering the path.

The trees were tall, like skyscrapers, and the sun beamed down from above. The song continued, even though her father wasn't playing it in front of her. Dream-Aelita didn't want to turn around, but she already knew what would happen next. Even after a few years on Earth, it was still hard experiencing these frequent nightmares.

The sunlight faded away, replaced with harsh shadows covering the ground. The park was now a forest, with the trees towering over the girl's small silhouette. Her parents were no were to be found, she felt that was inevitable from the start of her slumber. Only the flowers were left untouched by the sudden changes.

Then she heard the wolves again, but her dream-self couldn't see them in the pitch-black forest. She ran towards the roses, the path was still there in spite of everything-

It wasn't enough.

After running for what felt like forever, Dream-Aelita almost collapsed. Even if she couldn't feel physical pain or exhaustion, the surreal imagery was taking a toll on her. The howling was getting louder, but nothing was there. The fake girl covered her ears, tried to block out the noise ringing in her head. She could no longer tell the difference between the sky and the ground, both were an endless void full of dark shapes and shadows. The younger Aelita tried to hold on to the light-the flowers were now stars that were supposed to illuminate the night. The sky was no more.

Then she fell.

Wednesday, January 8, 2009
11:32 P.M

Belpois was looking at his friends' Lyoko avatars again, writing down potential improvements on a sheet of paper. He couldn't go to sleep, not when his team's worst enemy already had them inside his prison-

“Jeremie?” The overworked programmer heard the door open. “I can't sleep either, what have you been working on so far?” His pink-haired partner gave a forced smile.

The blonde boy took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “Come in. You caught me, it's hard not trying to think of solutions at a time like this,”

Einstein's room was a bit of mess, but it was cleaner than most of the other dorms. It was dark, with his laptop releasing the only form of light. The small unused desk and the navy bed had various notebooks and computer maintenance tools all over the place. Including the manual for the supercomputer, which was always near its most frequent user. Aside from that, the only thing that stuck out was the literal picture of Albert Einstein on the wall. To serve as inspiration, of course.

“I was thinking of giving Yumi a second weapon to use, since it would take forever to program a second set of fans. Ulrich is great at close combat, but his triplicate needs less time to cool down. Odd needs something too, I just don't know what to give them. What do you think?”

Aelita gave herself some time to think. “Good ideas, but you should talk to Odd about getting a new ability, so it won't end up like the time you gave them teleportation,”

He began to write again.“True. Now what about you?”

She couldn't think of anything. “I don't know, you gave me a lot of abilities to use. Maybe make harder for enemies to devirtualize my wings.”

“Right, swarms of hornets are a potential problem,”

The other insomniac tapped him on the shoulder. “You forgot something.” She joined him on the opposite side of the bed. “I think you need to start fighting on Lyoko,”

“Why?” Sweat was forming on the nervous boy's forehead. “I already have my purpose.”

“Remember when X.A.N.A only targeted us because we were the only ones who could use the supercomputer?” Aelita tried to keep looking optimistic, noticing his discomfort.

“Yeah, that was a huge problem. I get where you're coming from. I just don't want to get possessed like-him,” Jeremie turned his face away from the screen.

“You won't, this time all of us will go as a group,” The tired girl pushed her problems aside, now wasn't the time. Taking down that worthless parasite was more important.

“Alright,” The downtrodden boy choked out. “I'll ask Odd to sketch my avatar tomorrow,”

Schaeffer regained her composure. “I can make a list of your abilities,” She grabbed the unused pencil. “Don't feel bad, you can train with Ulrich and Yumi to help get used to Lyoko. Besides, you already took on X.A.N.A multiple times on Earth. You even defeated him when he tried to possess you during the zombie attack!”

Bispois looked at her face, and his tension faded quickly.

'She really knows me well,'

After his programming partner showed him the list, a new wave of confidence hit the back of his mind.

“Let's get to work then. Thank you so much, Aelita,”

She froze before blushing a little. “No problem! I'm glad this helped,”

Maybe one day she'll bring up her recent nightmare, but the virtual angel was already drained from dealing with it. The last thing she wanted to be was a burden to her friends. Schaeffer already noticed that Ishiyama was trying to hide her anger and irritation from always having to be the group's older sister. It didn't help that Yumi's family didn't competently trust her after all the lying and sneaking out she was required to do. Odd and Ulrich had problems too, but Aelita's head was too fuzzy from stress and from not getting enough sleep to think any further.

“Goodnight, Jeremie,” She said before sneaking back into her room, with a renewed desire to brace herself for the next day.

Chapter Text

Wednesday, January 9, 2009
3:12 A.M

Help me.

Something is getting closer, no-it's him!

A storm is coming.

Who are you? Are you really Aelita?

Project Carthage. I still don't know what that is.

Who is Waldo Schaeffer?

Help me, why do you look familiar?

I feel like somebody else.

Wednesday, January 9, 2009
3:13 A.M

When Anthea Hopper picked up her phone, she pressed the call button in an instant. After that last strange message she got, the worried mother saved that random number under her contacts. This time she was planning on speaking to the boy who sent it.

“I feel like somebody else,” It felt like the call was about to end. The former captive needed to act now.

“Who are you, and where is my daughter?! I'm Aelita's mother, please tell me!” Anthea didn't want to yell, the walls on the motel were thin. She did raise her voice a little though, out of necessity.

“Kadic. Go to Kadic Academy,” The boy's voice sounded less tired. “Be careful, you are being watched,” He came off as more strict now.

The experienced programmer didn't care. “I know, I need a way to contact her. Going in person would be too risky.”

“There's something I can do.” Hopper was surprised and confused. The person on the other end was clearly a teenager, how could he help her?

“I can send her a voicemail though your phone,”

“Like how you contacted me,” Anthea quickly connected the dots, being forced to work on Project Carthage had it's benefits. “Though that same wireless signal. I can't trace it, but I know it's there,”

“Right,” He controlled his breathing for a few seconds. “I'm ready, now hold the phone to your face so she can see you too.”

The desperate mother got into her position. This was most likely the only lead she'll get for a very long time. Hopper no longer had access to a supercomputer, and her coding skills were impressive, but she needed stronger hardware. Her husband used to have that advantage, but she didn't know about his recent passing. In spite of that, Anthea knew that her daughter deserved better, and her friends did too. She'll ask questions later.

“Aelita, this is your mother. I know it's been forever since I last saw you, but one day we'll meet in person. Unfortunately, I have to wait until the Green Phoenix stops tracking me down. They are a criminal organization that wanted to use our family's work to steal data from various countries, including France. I don't know how much your father told you about our legacy, but they are certainly after Lyoko.”

She took a deep breath before continuing.

“I don't know what happened to you over the years, all I hope is that your father is taking good care of you, and that you made some friends. I'm happy that you're going to school in the physical world instead of remaining on Lyoko. Thankfully, those criminals don't have access to the virtual world, or Project Carthage-”

The boy interrupted her. “My power is fading. You don't have much time,” he said with more fatigue than before. Anthea didn't know this person, but this detail gave her some concern.

“Right, what's important is that you are safe, so stay at Kadic until I can find you. Aelita, I love you, and I will do everything in my power to see you again. Don't give up!”

The call ended, and the voice disappeared.

Wednesday, January 9, 2009
6:01 A.M

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

William quickly leaped out of bed and silenced his alarm clock. He only had an hour to use the showers and head for breakfast. It was crazy how much the students were pushed at Kadic, compared to other schools.

'Especially that one,' he shook off an intrusive thought. 'Now's not the time, focus!'

The other boys had the same idea, (including Odd, who still didn't feel like one) running out of their dorms in an unidentified swarm. It was very loud, with everybody struggling to reach the only door downstairs. A part of William wanted to leap out of a window just to get down faster, but quickly realized that was a stupid idea.

“Hurry up!” Emmanuel tried to squeeze though the ten or twelve boys in the packed hallway. “Rosa's serving pancakes today!”

“Wait your turn!” Christopher, another classmate, shouted back at him. “You know how long this takes for everyone!”

The rest of the student muttered in agreement. The line towards the staircase was a common annoyance they all had to put up with. The girls' dormitories was just as bad, especially with people hogging the bathrooms. William didn't care, but it was a little funny seeing a hotshot like Emmanuel get taken down a peg. Since he recently became the captain of the football team, the obnoxious blonde never stopped looking for approval.

'But for who?' Dunbar wondered. 'And why? It's like my time with-'

That was when a fractured memory pierced though his foggy mind. At that moment, that faint signal from the electric pulse began to surge. It quickly mended some of the damage done by the virus. The defender then remembered a familiar, but haunting voice.

“You did great, William, just keeping following my orders,”

“Thank you, sir. Will the Kolossus be enough to convince them to stop fighting?”

“I hope so, but some people only respond to force,”

“You're right, Lyoko doesn't think they're tainted,”

“It's us against the world, child. Prepare for the worst,”

The memory then receded into the back of the Lyoko Warrior's mind. Dunbar didn't know how to feel about what he recalled, why was X.A.N.A being nice to him? It was even stranger seeing a past version of himself referring to that parasite as “sir.” William knew the A.I was lying, but he didn't understand how powerful those lies were yet.

'No, now's not the time to worry about that, I'm not having a panic attack today!' The latent defender recognized the need to ground himself.

“William, are you alright? You're staring off into space again,” It was Christopher again, this time snapping the shocked boy out of his trance.

“Sorry, just had a strange dream lately,”

Wednesday, January 9, 2009
7:15 A.M

Sissi Delmas could barely eat her food. Part of the reason was carbs, the other being her lack of appetite. She knew that nobody wanted to put up with the crazy girl that made Aelita cry. The princess of Lyoko did have a better reputation due to her high grades and kind personality. Elizabeth wished more people saw her the same way, even if their alienation made sense, so color her surprised when a familiar boy showed up again.

'Why is he wasting his time with me?' Sissi thought bitterly. 'Normally guys only hang out this much with girls when they're dating,'

“Hey, you mind if I sit here again?” It felt like a trick question, of course she needed company. William sat with her yesterday, so maybe he did like her after all.

“Sure,” The future Lyoko Warrior said nonchalantly.

They didn't talk much this time, due to their anxiety building up recently, but her strange classmate did bring up something she needed to hear.

“If you need to find out what all these visions really mean, then meet me on the steps after school,”

“Which steps are you talking about, you mean the dorms or the school building?”

“School building,” William's eyes had that blank expression again. “No one will hear us since there's a football game today,”

“Oh, right,” Elizabeth bit her lip. “I'll see you after the bell rings. Wait a sec,” the lonely girl pulled out her cellphone. “I-I can give you my number,” Of course, the perfect test to see if he wanted to date her.

“Alright, I'm surprised you asked this early,” The boy was oblivious to her need for a romantic relationship. “Since we're not dating and all,” However, he did remember her desire for Ulrich causing a ton of problems.

“We-we don't have to,” Delmas said awkwardly. “Sorry, you probably wanna figure stuff out, too,” She could always date other people, anyway. If any boys besides William wanted to be around her, that is. Experimenting with girls would only lead to harassment, Brinja and her lackeys would make sure of it. It was hard being on the bottom of the social ladder.

She still got his number anyway.

Wednesday, January 9, 2009
9:36 A.M

Aelita opened her locker and picked up her book-bag. So far, Jeremie's plan was working, she did feel a little better after last night. She was still pretty uneasy, but felt more focused after brainstorming some ideas for her partner's Lyoko avatar. All the princess needed to do was go to Odd for a quick sketch before finalizing it.

'I hope he feels less afraid,' Aelita was aware of X.A.N.A's personal grudge against Jeremie. 'We're going to need all the help we can get,'

It didn't matter if he was afraid of the virtual world or not, the whole team had their Einstein's back. If anything, the guardian wished she was more useful herself, after spending the last few days crying or panicking. Starting today, she had enough of falling for that parasite's mind games. Even if the girl rightfully needed time to grieve after Waldo Schaeffer's death, the A.I was never going to give it to her. After all, her friends had problems too.

'I just wish I could do more for them,'

The hallways were crowded as usual, with students moving around to their next classes. Aelita, in particular, had Art History after Algebra. She looked forward to seeing Odd and learning more about the beautiful parts of Earth. It was better than being reminded of all the wars that her History teacher wouldn't stop lecturing about. Along with how drab and dull the academy's architecture was. There was too much gray and white for the girl's liking. Her artist friend would agree.

RING! RING! RING!

'What is this!?' Aelita quickly turned the volume down. 'I don't even know this number!'

It was a harsh reminder of the strange reality the Lyoko Warriors had to deal with, because her phone started playing a message by itself.

“-This is your mother. I know it's been forever since I last saw you, but one day we'll meet in person,”

The virtual angel ran to the nearest bathroom to avoid being watched. Being late was always better than looking suspicious.

“I don't know what happened to you over the years, all I hope is that your father is taking good care of you, and that you made some friends,”
Aelita started taking a few deep breaths to help calm herself down. Was this really her mother? She kept her cellphone near her right ear.

“I'm happy that you're going to school in the physical world instead of remaining on Lyoko,”

As the voice of her would-be mother kept going, a familiar person interrupted her.

“My power is fading. You don't have much time,”

'William!?' The pink-haired girl was shocked and furious. 'Why is all of this connected to him?!' She needed to share this now.

“Don't give up!”

How appropriate.

Wednesday, January 9, 2009
12:03 P.M

“So William did what again?” Jeremie sighed, looks like the waiting period has ended.

“Just listen to this,” Aelita told him.

The whole group just gathered at their usual table during lunch. The Lyoko Warriors were all aware of their leader's plan to wait out for a potential X.A.N.A attack. Along with processing whatever happened at the Celestial Dome. If that virus didn't create a army of monsters after boxing in the country with the shield, then it might have been created by Franz Hopper. Jeremie had already theorized that, all he needed to find out was how all of this was connected to William's cellphone.

Today seemed like the best time.

“What did William mean by 'his power fading'?” Yumi was the first to ask.

“I don't know,” Aelita sounded tired. “This lady said she was my mom, and then his voice showed up out of nowhere,”

“We need to talk to him now,” Ulrich knew the guardian was hiding her distress. “We need answers,” He said angrily.

Jeremie took control. “Right, but we can't scare him off, or we'll get nothing. That's why I need to go,” His expression was more serious. “All we need is William's cellphone, anyway,”

Odd chimed in. “But how are you going to ask for it? I talked to the guy before, and he's been stuck in these strange trances lately,”

Ulrich nodded, but he was still a bit frustrated. “Could you explain? You said it might be similar to you Future Flash somehow,”

The oracle nodded, aware of their partner's irritation. “That's because those visions used to take forever and stunned me on Lyoko. Now they just help me dodge stuff, since they're kinda just part of my instincts now,”

Their leader needed more information as well. “How is this related to William?”

“Let me finish,” the feline archer assured him. “Now, we know that he can't see the future and all, but maybe he can do something else. Like making technology do stuff for him? It's just a hunch,” They struggled their shoulders with a forced sense of playfulness.

Yumi was not convinced. “Now that's kind of terrifying, Odd. Being able to do that on Earth instead of Lyoko. What if X.A.N.A gave that kind of power to William-”

“Stop,” Aelita immediately stopped her from spiraling. “Don't jump to conclusions, Yumi! We just need to get his cell-phone, then Jeremie and I can analyze the code the Celestial Dome gave us after our trip. We shouldn't have put this off,” She still felt a little guilty.

“Don't feel bad, Aelita,” The dark-haired girl apologized. “I'm sorry that I keep getting irritated at you. Especially since you can't control any of this. You're right, we'll find out at some point.” She was still concerned, but felt more awake than ever before.

Jeremie felt like this meeting needed to end. “All right, so Odd and I are going to talk to William after school about borrowing his cell-phone. Since they know more about these 'trances', I'll just be filling in some details. Then Aelita and I will analyze the barrier's code. If something comes up again, you know to use the group chat for help,”

Nobody objected.

Wednesday, January 9, 2009
3:39 P.M

William was unaware of what the other Lyoko Warriors wanted from him. The only exception was Sissi, who needed an explanation the most. His head felt cloudy again, like he was walking though a field of fog. The anxious boy took his medication yesterday, it was weird that he was feeling like this again. At least he knew where the steps were.

It didn't take long for him to get there. The last remaining students were obviously running late to the game. Thankfully, Milly and Tamiya were nowhere to be found. Just a few people the boy didn't know. Dunbar looked up at the sky again, without thinking. The translucent barrier answered him back, but this time it was a darker gray. It felt like a storm was coming, but when?

Elizabeth wasn't there. She was currently waiting on the other side of the door, that was inside of the academic building. The steps were only a few inches away from the girl, but she still didn't move. It was hard for her not to be scared, she could feel how heavy the weight of her fractured memories were. William could relate, but she could only answer him after the other students have left.

'You can do this, Sissi. You're better than those ugly monsters, anyway!'

With a bitter look on her face, she quickly pushed the door open to face the truth.

Chapter Text

Wednesday, January 9, 2009
3:43 P.M

“How much do you remember?”

Everything was suspiciously silent. All Delmas could hear was the sounds of various birds and insects as her confrontation began. This was William, right? How much did he truly know?

“I know about the monsters, those bug-eyed freaks that almost got me sometimes,” Sissi refused to show any weakness. “And some of the teachers got possessed-I mean Jim, he always had this weird sign in his eyes.”

“Could you draw it?”

Dunbar's voice softened, as a form of remorse. He quickly reached into his backpack and pulled out a black notebook. Sissi sighed while nodding slowly. After a few seconds of sketching, she managed to replicate the eye of X.A.N.A. The barrier's defender had to force himself not to stare at it, the symbol already carried too much knowledge.

“As I was saying,” the principal's daughter looked at him in the eye. “I know that Ulrich, Yumi, and their weird group of friends are always up to something, but I don't know what. It feels like I'm almost there, I just need another push,”

William didn't know how to respond. A part of him wanted to warn her against going near them again. Instead, he started feeling the familiar pull of that electric pulse. It quickly traveled up to his brain, making the boy feel awake and asleep at the same time.

Like a third eye was being opened.

“Now it's your turn,”

The girl tapped him on the shoulder, unaware of his current daze.

“The one carrying that eye is known as X.A.N.A,” The shield's protector answered slowly. “He created those monsters to fight back against them,” William breathed in slowly, trying to ground himself again.

Sissi gave him a concerned look.

“What going on? Are you really okay?”

Dunbar ignored the question, still under the trance this strange power gave him.

“Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita are the only ones who can take him down.” The strange boy looked at sky, comforted by the shield's presence. “They all fought in this world called Lyoko, and set me free from his control,”

An image immediately entered Sissi's mind. A supercomputer, with Jeremie sitting in it's chair. Something was on it...

“Slow down! I know they're a part of this Lyoko thing, is it on some kind of giant computer?” She took a few steps back, still needing her questions to be answered. The anxious girl wished there was a way to stop her friend from acting like he was possessed.

Wait.

“It is,” William interrupted her thought process. Or whatever this strange version of him is. “A virtual world where X.A.N.A comes from, along with his monsters.”

“You said they set you free, right?” Elizabeth was starting to put the pieces together. “Then why are you acting like this? You've been staring out into space a lot lately,” The principal's daughter knew she could have phrased that question better, but she was genuinely worried about his safety.

“They did,” Her only friend bowed his head down. “And you're right, I'm not feeling well. I can handle it, though.” The boy then sat on one of the concrete steps. “But you need to know about X.A.N.A and Lyoko, it's too important. Because he's still out there, Sissi...” He began breathing heavily again, as the shield started surging with power. Blue light flicked from the sky.

William wished she could see it.

“Not if you're going to pass out!” The girl walked from the door leading to the classrooms, to where he was sitting. “Can you get up? We need to go to the nurse,” She held out her hand.

Dunbar paused, tempted to say that he's fine, but the brain fog and fatigue was taking over. In a split second, the boy took her hand with a blank expression on his face.

'I can't let him see me like this,'

X.A.N.A would certainly kill him for showing any kind of weakness. If his former disciple was lucky, he would just get yelled at. On the A.I's worst days, he would make William fight the monsters he created until the Lyoko Warrior would collapse.

'Even if he's powerless under my barrier,' The defender took her hand, and tried to slowly rise up.

“Just hold on tight, the nurse's office is-” Sissi's head turned towards the sky. “What is that!?”

The blue light, now an ethereal glow, was towering over the earth's atmosphere. Soft sparks traveled across the wind, enveloping every piece of empty space. The shield was protecting the only world the kids could ever understand. The academy, the city, and the whole country would soon reap it's benefits. The parasite hasn't attacked yet, but it won't be long before humankind faces his wrath.

The children were mesmerized by it's appearance. The principal's daughter could not let go of the tired boy's hand. It was the only reason she could witness the event. Both of them didn't know how much time has passed while they gazed at the majestic creation. The former mean girl was the only one who found the strength to speak up.

“William, do you...see this...all the time?” Elizabeth shook her head furiously after slowly releasing her grip.

“Always,” Dunbar replied calmly, like he was about to fall asleep. “I still need help, just ignore it,” His eyes began to flutter before reaching a metal pole. “Just help me to my room,”

Sissi nodded.

Chapter Text

Wednesday, January 9, 2009
4:10 P.M

“What are you two doing?” Odd and Jeremie looked confused.

Sissi almost panicked, before William answered them. “She's helping me to my room,” He started breathing heavily again. “I feel like passing out,”

The strategist and the feline archer looked at each other for a second, before remembering their mission.

“Hey Sissi, we can take over from here,” Della Robbia assured her. “It'll be less weird if we help, since it's the...boy's dorms,” They choked out while fighting a wave of dysphoria.

Sissi hesitated before asking the disheveled defender, who was awkwardly holding her hand while slowly walking on the carpet floor. “Let them, it's..okay,”

The Lyoko Warriors didn't say anything to their unofficial counterparts while transferring responsibly. This time, William had more support, with two people giving him more balance instead of one. Jeremie felt more physical strain compared to Odd, but he held on in order to complete the mission.

Originally, they planned on just talking to Dunbar and reviving his cellphone to analyze its connection to the shield. Unfortunately, something was causing the older boy a concerning amount of exhaustion. Nobody saw William like this before, especially while he was possessed by X.A.N.A. Only the principal's daughter knew the answer, and she was already in the process of leaving. The girl already had her questions answered, even if the sight of the barrier confused her even more.

“What happened?” Odd could not help asking William.

He sighed, knowing they were halfway up the stairs, and thankfully the hallways were empty. It would be easier to talk in his room, but the boy was very tempted to sleep the day away.

“Sector Five...Did you go?”

“We saw the shield,” Jeremie could see right though him. “Somehow you're connected to it. But what happened with Sissi?” He asked while clinching his teeth, still struggling with carrying his classmate up the stairs.

“She saw it...” The disheveled defender blurted out.

“What?! How?!”

“Jeremie, focus!” Odd snapped their leader out his shock. “Just help me get Will to his room, then we can talk!” They were irritated from the constant emotional labor, and the current physical strain wasn't helping either.

'So this is what Yumi has to deal with,'

The eccentric artist thought while rolling their eyes. Einstein didn't see it, too busy concentrating on the task at hand.

When the strange-looking group reached the corridor, the animal lover and the programmer noticed their companion was having more difficulty staying awake. Dunbar almost closed his eyes completely, and began to stumble.

“William,” Odd prevented him from falling, with Jeremie helping as much as he can. “Wake up, we're almost there!”

“Sorry...”

The other two were grateful they could still remember where his room was. The door opened quickly, only making a barely noticeable amount of noise. While the small band of misfits used their inside voices in the hallway and the corridor, it was still hard not being paranoid of spectators. It was a side effect of constantly fighting an evil computer virus.

Or dealing with Sissi.

“William, how did Sissi see the shield? Try to stay awake, we need to know,” His tone grew firm, trying to hide frustration. “She could reveal our secret,”

Dunbar flinched, the familiar anxiety making him more alert and energetic. “She touched my hand, and I somehow shared it's location,” His voice was cold again, like a hollow shell. “I don't know why. She's starting to remember though, so I told her everything I knew,” The barrier's protector prepared for the backlash. “Gave her the mercy I never got to have,”

William looked into Jeremie's eyes, but the sign of X.A.N.A wasn't there. No, it felt like he was looking into the other boy's soul, without any sign of restraint.

“What have you done?! She could tell her father! Aelita could-”

“Not if I'm there. You know Elizabeth only seeks out attention because she's lonely. Don't push her away, she has a right to know,” His true colors emerged again.

“To know about what? She has no experience fighting on Lyoko! X.A.N.A will go after her and everybody else, you know that!”

Odd was terrified, even locking the door to make sure nobody checked up on them. Aside from that, they had no idea what to do, freezing up on the spot.

'This is a nightmare,”

In spite of this, the discussion still continued.

“Then give her the choice to do better than I did.” The electric pulse returned for a few seconds. “If Sissi doesn't want to fight, then give her the choice to erase her memories. The others haven't helped you as much as she did.”

Belpois paused, weighing out the calculations in his mind. If the principal's daughter joined them, she could help them maintain their cover. On the other hand, the immature girl could just blurt out their secret and take Aelita away from them. If William was right though, then maybe taking a little risk could pay off later, since he lead them to Sector Five. While the older boy was difficult to work with, his advice was still solid.

The cautious programmer sighed. “Alright, William. I'll ask her, but if Sissi tells her father, then we return to the past again. Deal?”

“Deal,”

Einstein nodded. “One more thing, while we did discover the shield's data on Sector Five, Aelita found out that some of it somehow got transferred to you cell-phone. We're going to need it for a few days until it's fully analyzed,” A part of him wanted to smirk with satisfaction.

“Fine,” Dunbar vaguely pointed his finger at his backpack on the floor, while holding on to the side of his mattress. “Front pocket,”

Odd started navigating his cluttered mess of a room. There were textbooks, art supplies, and fantasy novels on the floor. His black backpack was near the unmade bed. They noticed a few Subdigitals posters along with a few edgy bands they didn't recognize. The desk was no better than the floor, the only thing that stick out was the old acoustic guitar. The animal lover didn't know the older boy even knew how to sing.

Dunbar was still silent.

After they found the cell-phone, Della-Robbia carefully traced back their steps. “It looks like you're doing better...” They still felt like needing to bring some form of positivity in order to calm themselves down.

William collapsed on the bed, his fatigue hitting twice as hard from the adrenaline rush. “Just..adrenaline. Open the window...then touch...my-h-hand,” He was struggling again, to stay awake. “Odd-sorry-sor-”
The team's leader decided to stick his leg out this time. While carrying the defender's cell-phone, he carefully made his way to the unopened window.

“Thanks...” William told Jeremie. Odd had to prepare themselves before touching the hand of X.A.N.A's former disciple. Even they had to push though unpleasant memories. At first, the feline archer expected to see some kind of prison covering the sky, like in the Celestial Dome. The truth was much more serene.

“It's beautiful,”

At that point, it's protector finally fell asleep.

Wednesday, January 9, 2009
6:39 P.M

“What happened with William?” Aelita asked her partner while digging though the older boy's cell-phone.

“He almost passed out, so Odd and I had to drag him to his room,” Jeremie couldn't help releasing his frustration. “In spite of our help, he decided to straight-up tell Sissi, of all people, about the shield! I won't be surprised if he told her other stuff at this point!” Einstein then shut his mouth, realizing he probably let out too much information.

Aelita sighed, this was getting them nowhere. She had enough surprises for one day. “Just focus on getting the data. At least you got his cell-phone. We can deal with her later-wait he almost passed out?!” She absorbed that piece of bad news at the last minute, still burnt out from stress.
“Yeah,” The blonde researcher couldn't read the room. “For some reason he asked Sissi to help him first. Maybe the shield-”

His pink-haired counterpart put her mouse down, the sound echoing on the boy's small desk. It broke the peaceful silence the girl was used to hearing while she was coding in Jeremie's dorm.

“Do you realize what you're doing right now?” Aelita needed to be firm, to stop this bad habit from developing again. “You're letting the mission take over everything again. Maybe the real reason why William was saying all this stuff was because he almost passed out,”

Jeremie needed a moment to take in what she said.

'I really messed up, even if he was making things harder, I still don't know the full story. He even apologized to Odd and let them see the shield,'

His thoughts were interrupted.

“You know what, I'm doing to look though this last bit of data, then I'm going back to my room,” Aelita crossed her arms. “You know how much Ms.Hertz loves giving pop quizzes,” She said passive aggressively.

“I'm sorry-”

“Tell that to him,”

She pressed the enter button on the blonde researcher's laptop, and the super-scan started filtering out code that didn't match the wireless signal that was found on the Celestial Dome. A thousand rows of ones and zeros littered the screen for a few seconds, before the signature red alarm activated. That same ping was always used for X.A.N.A attacks, but this time it was focused on a different source. It was the only way to study that invisible barrier, or that's what Belpois thought.

The guardian of Lyoko didn't have the strength to prepare herself.

“Aelita, this is your mother. I know it's been forever since I last saw you, but one day we'll meet in person. Unfortunately-”

It was that voicemail again, still haunting the girl, reminding the virtual angel of her failures...

“Shut that off!” She kept glaring at the heartless screen. “I already spent all day trying to trace that message! Nothing happened! It's like she doesn't exist!” Her anger suddenly erupted, like the heat of Lyoko's core.

“Aelita...” Jeremie tried to comfort her, but was pushed away. “Why didn't you tell me at lunch earlier today?”

“Because I can analyze it by myself,” Referring to the pink laptop in her own dorm. “I'm not slowing anyone down, not Yumi, not Odd, Ulrich, and especially you,” She stood up, with a dangerous mix of determination and pure spite. “Besides, it lead to nothing anyway, since my laptop has the super-scan, too,”

The bitter guardian lead herself to the exit.

“One more thing, the whole team is going to have a meeting tomorrow. This time, Sissi and William are going to join us after school. If her joining the team can get William to help us find my mother, then so be it. The cell-phone was a bust.” She pulled her head down, covering her vision with shadows of doubt. “We should have know better, Jeremie. Just get some rest, we're going to need it. I'll contact the rest of the warriors on the group chat,”

The vitrual angel made sure to turn her back on her partner, making sure no tears were shed this time. Aelita knew X.A.N.A would enjoy it.

“Goodnight Jeremie. Get some sleep this time, alright?”

Even if the boy couldn't see her face, the girl faked yet another smile.

Wednesday, January 9, 2009
8:00 P.M

Ulrich's eyes were dry from constantly studying for Biology. In spite of his barely passing science grade, his teacher still refused to transfer him to the support class, like Sissi. Unlike the principal's daughter, Ms. Hertz believed the star athlete “had potential” even if he couldn't memorize facts like Jeremie. Even now, his low self-esteem still betrayed him.

'What a waste of time, if physical science was easier, then that would help me more!'

It didn't help that the cynical boy's father always compared him to Belpois. Unfortunately, Ulrich still denied how toxic his methods of parenting are. It would only make him more unconformable, like accepting his feelings towards Odd Della Robbia. Instead, something more important caught his attention.

'Looks like Aelita's on the group chat again.' Hoping she was sharing cat pictures again, Ulrich accepted his cell-phone's notification.

Aelita: Emergency meeting tomorrow after school!
This time Sissi and William need to be there!
Looking at his cell-phone was a bust.
Like it or not, he's the only one who knows how to help us.

Yumi: no
sissi will tell on us
just bring william
if xana did something to him
we can stop it

Odd: WE NEED BOTH OF
THEM YUMI
he showed Sissi the shlid
and me
its not a prson!

Yumi:what she knows
you saw it too
why I thought it was a trap set by xana
what did it look like

Odd: it was beautful
like a oil panting
im still shook honety

Ulrich: Odd, focus
Aelita, why didnt it work?
I dont undertnad.

Aelita: Because the shield is connected directly to William.
Unfortunately, it sounds like X.A.N.A did do something to him.
He's still not possessed, though. Keep that in mind.
We need all the help we can get now.

Odd: even Sisi

Yumi: they got a point
wait where's jeremie

Ulrich:Yeah where is he

Jeremie: Sorry, needed some time to think.
There's a high chance he didn't only tell her about the shield.
William said that Sissi should a choice over erasing her memories.
She's starting to get them back, her actions in the lunch room proved that.
But, I'm allowed to make a return trip if she rats us out.

Yumi: allowed by who?
william?

Ulrich: You made a deal with him
Really?

Odd: yeah really
I undersand needing to know abot the sheld
but come on

Aelita:You didn't tell me about a deal, either.

Jeremie:Once again, I apologize.
I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you either.
I also noticed that I'm becoming more obcessed with missions again.
Can someone else get Sissi and William?
I already typed out a script to read to both of them.
None of you have to say anything to them at the meeting,
just tell them to be there.

Yumi: ill go
im not going to lose my temper
just because im near sissi and william

Ulrich: Me too
Us being there
Can remind them not to push there luck

Odd: you sure?
you gys had past histoy
with them

Yumi: sure

Ulrich: Dont worry bout it Odd

Aelita:Alright, the meeting starts at 4:00 P.M tomorrow. It
will be at the Factory, since Sissi needs to know the full story before
her decision.

Jeremie:William is most likely going to try filling in the gaps for her,
anyway.

Yumi: true

Odd: alrght ill be there

Ulrich: You can count on me
And Yumi

Aelita: Alright, goodnight everyone. Remember to get some rest for tomorrow.

Jeremie: Goodnight.

Yumi:see you guys later

Ulrich:bye

Odd:we got this!!